A WOMAN was raped three times after being given the date-rape drug GHB, a court heard.

And the terrified woman fled in fear of her life after the brutal attack at Berry Brow.

Bradford Crown Court heard she was subjected to a violent and prolonged sex attack.

Simon Nash, 38, is accused of drugging the woman before beating and raping her at his rented home at Robin Hood Hill.

Prosecutor Andrew Kershaw told the jury yesterday that Nash had spiked the woman's drink with the drug GHB. When she woke up Mr Kershaw told the court that Nash was raping her.

He said that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, turned her head towards him and asked him to stop but Nash punched her on the lip, spat at her and repeatedly punched her.

The jury were told that he carried on punching her to the head and face with what Mr Kershaw described as "undiminished force and frequency" as the rape continued.

The woman was fearing for her life as she pleaded with the defendant, it was alleged.

But the court heard that Nash told her that he was going to "kill her and leave her in the gutter" as her ordeal continued.

The complainant was screaming as she fell off the bed at which point Nash is alleged to have squeezed her by the neck until she passed out.

Eventually she managed to struggle free and open a first-floor window but, as she was about to jump out, Nash dragged her back in and threw her across the room, ripping out a clump of her hair.

Mr Kershaw said that the woman then ran downstairs and was half way through the front door when Nash slammed it shut on her arm.

Eventually she made it into the kitchen where she armed herself with a knife before finally escaping through a window.

She ran partially clothed down the street screaming she had been raped and was helped by a neighbour.

Mr Kershaw said Nash had bought two bottles of Fanta at a petrol station as he drove the complainant to his house.

Whilst the woman was upstairs he poured the some of the drink into a jug and spiked it with GHB - gamma hydroxybutyrate.

Nash is then alleged to have poured a glass for the complainant.

"In doing so he intended to overpower her so that he could engage in sexual activity with her which otherwise she would not have wanted to do with him," Mr Kershaw said.

Nash, of Lydgate Drive, New Mill, Huddersfield, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of administering a substance with intent, false imprisonment and three counts of rape, told police that the woman had consented to the sex.

During interviews he said that the woman had knowingly taken GHB because it would give them a buzz and added that everything they had done had been consensual.

The trial continues.