A convicted murderer released on licence attempted to copy how he killed a woman 22 years ago by sexually brutalising a Bristol mother of five in her kitchen, a jury heard.

Mark Shirley was convicted of the ritualised murder of 67-year-old widow Mary Wainwright and jailed for life in 1987, Bristol Crown Court was told.

It is claimed that, having been released, recalled to prison and then let out again, he sexually humiliated and raped a 39-year-old woman.

The vile three-hour attack – in which a "cold-eyed" Shirley seemed to argue with himself - only came to a stop when the petrified woman's son returned home, the court heard.

Shirley, 39, who was living in Richmond Road, Easton, denies all the charges, which include false imprisonment, rape and assault. The attack happened in March.

Rosaleen Collins, prosecuting, told the court today : "The idea any of us or our loved ones would be the subject of a sexual attack in the street would be probably one of our collective greatest fears.

"To be the subject of a serious sexual assault in the privacy of your own home, within the comfort, security and hub of your family life is probably one of anyone's greatest nightmares.

"March 20, 2009, to (this woman), at the hands of this defendant, was her greatest nightmare. He targeted her in her own home and he abused her in quite the most repulsive of ways."

Miss Collins told how the victim, who can't be named for legal reasons, was alone at home during the day in March and found Shirley sitting at her kitchen table.

The woman, wearing a grey pinstriped suit, sobbed as she recalled in the witness box how she discovered Shirley and asked him to leave her home.

"I said 'what are you doing here, how did you get in?'." Shirley claimed to have let himself in through the patio door.

She described how he was pale, and didn't look himself, and repeatedly said she was a nice lady and she needed to trust him.

The woman told the jury: "He said he once knew a lady, a sweet lady, her name was Mary.

"He was leaning over me, he was saying she was a trustful lady, a lady he had been watching for a time."

It was then, she said, when Shirley recounted how he had gone to "Mary's" flat in Cardiff, made her sit on a chair as he destroyed her home and stabbed her.

She said: "He was arguing with himself, he was having a tantrum with himself. I firmly believed that he was talking to Mary."

She described how Shirley flicked a four-inch long knife over her partially naked body.

She said: "I thought, oh my God, I'm not going to get out of here."

The woman remembered how Shirley smelt of drink and his eyes were bloodshot. He then seriously sexually assaulted her on the kitchen table.

She said: "I just stayed as still as possible. I thought, oh my God, I'm not going to be picking up my children today."

She told the jury: "He said he liked Fridays and Saturdays; they were good drinking and killing days."

The case continues.