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A mentally-ill man who attacked a woman with an iron bar before raping her in a shared house in Mansfield warned his neighbour to mind her own business when she threatened to call police, a court heard.

After receiving the text message on July 4, 2020, Mirel Stefan replied: “I stay out of your business, you stay out of mine.”

Jonathon Dee, prosecuting, said Stefan, aged 27, previously struck the woman with a drawer, strangled her until she lost consciousness and, when she came to, put a knife to her throat.

He was repeatedly violent to the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and she was “effectively under his control,” he said.

Stefan, who appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing via video-link from a secure psychiatric hospital, interrupted proceedings to say: “These are lies.”

Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told him: “The jury found you guilty at a trial. You are not here to discuss whether you are innocent or guilty. You had that opportunity at the trial.”

Stefan's victim fled the country, but was taken into protective custody when airport staff noticed she was scared as she returned to the UK.

Stefan, of Stockwell Gate, Mansfield, was arrested on August 30, 2020, when he went to a friend's address and threatened to kill the woman if he found her.

He was convicted of rape in September, last year.

The court heard Stefan, originally from Romania, has served three different prison sentences in France and was sectioned in Spain for his long standing background of psychotic behaviour.

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Judge Rafferty told him: "Despite your mental illness you realised what you were doing was wrong.

“You were prepared to go to lengths to conceal what was happening, including remaining mute through criminal proceedings until the outset of your trial, when suddenly you began to speak.”

He said this might have been caused in part by mental illness but was largely motivated by Stefan's desire to avoid responsibility.

Stefan was jailed for 10 years and will not be eligible for release until he has served two thirds of the sentence. He will be transferred to prison when he recovers.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and permanently banned from all contact with his victim.

Rapist attacked woman in Mansfield with iron bar after repeatedly assaulting her