An alleged Bristol rape victim told a jury she did not know her attacker was a murderer until he sexually brutalised her.

The Bristol mother-of-five said Mark Shirley subjected her to a terrifying, three-hour ordeal in her home, during which he spoke of how he had stabbed a woman called Mary previously and he wanted her to "smell as sweet and fresh as Mary".

She said all she knew before the knife point attack was that Shirley was on licence for a previous offence.

Shirley, 39, who was living in Richmond Road, Easton, denies false imprisonment, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence, rape and three charges of assault by penetration in March.

The jury has been told he was convicted for the ritualised murder of 67-year-old widow Mary Wainwright in Cardiff and jailed for life in 1987.

But, having been released on licence in 2003, he was recalled to prison for a drink-related offence in January 2007, and released again last August.

It is claimed that, having met the woman through one of her friends, Shirley emulated the murder for which he was convicted by stripping the woman and abusing her in her own kitchen.

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

Shirley denies the attack, and claims the woman had heard about his grim past not because he told her as he raped her, but she had been told by her friend.

The complainant told the jury: "I knew he (Mark) was on licence. On our estate Mark said he was a lookout for two other people.

"We had no knowledge Mark had killed anybody. I didn't know Mark had been convicted of murder."

The woman admitted that, when Shirley was recalled to prison, she and her husband agreed to give character references on his behalf.

She said: "I found Mark to be a pleasant person in the beginning. We thought we were doing our best for my friend and him."

She said that after Shirley abused her, he gloated that he "always covered his tracks".

She told the court it took time for her to be able to report a full account of her ordeal, which included a threat by Shirley that he would cut her head off.

The woman said that after the incident, her husband put in an insurance claim for a number of household items, but the claim was not pursued.

The case continues at Bristol Crown Court.