Neil Scott-O'Connor accused of rape on third woman in Sussex

Neil Scott-O’Connor is accused of chatting up a teenager on Tinder, then taking her to his Sussex home to choke and rape her during sex.

The 25-year-old manipulated the young woman, and when she tried to stop him choking her, he carried on regardless, Hove Crown Court heard.

A jury in his latest trial heard how Scott-O’Connor has already been convicted of two “identical” offences against other women.

The victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were scared of him.

In the latest trial the young woman claimed Scott-O’Connor, who went by the alias Marley, had claimed he idolised Ted Bundy, a California serial killer who confessed to at least 30 murders in the 1970s.

The American serial killer was brought back to popular attention with a Netflix programme entitled Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes on the 30th anniversary of him getting the death penalty in January 2019.

American serial killer Ted Bundy

Richard Hearnden, prosecuting, opened the new trial this week, and said Scott-O’Connor wooed the complainant to his home in Partridge Green near Horsham.

He said the alleged rape happened in May 2019, and later that year the woman made a complaint against Scott-O’Connor.

The prosecutor described how the defendant left the woman with unwanted love bites and “showed a clear pattern of abnormal conduct” in his sex life.

He said: “The defendant was convicted by a jury in that year of identical behaviour, namely of strangling two women for the purposes of his own sexual pleasure.”

Mr Hearnden said Scott-O’Connor met the woman on Tinder in April 2019 after he “super-liked” her profile.

But after flattering her, he would turn “passive aggressive” about how she refused to sleep with him.

Neil Scott-O'Connor met the woman through mobile phone application Tinder

“Our case is this was part of a highly effective strategy of manipulating this woman,” Mr Hearnden said. “He would bombard her on one day with love and affection, then the next day he would turn on her.”

On the night of the alleged rape, it is claimed Scott-O’Connor asked to blindfold the woman, which she agreed.

Mr Hearnden told the jury to “disregard any preconceived ideas about the question of consent” or any “prejudices” and said what happened needed “careful explanation”.

She at first told him it was fine for him to “choke” her, and this was because she “trusted” him at first, Mr Hearnden said.

Neil Scott-O'Connor is on trial at Hove Crown Court

But she had told him he should stop if she asked him to.

Scott-O’Connor put his hands over her throat and she realised he was pressing much harder than she had expected. She was in and out of consciousness and was “struggling to breathe”.

She made it clear to him she wanted him to stop, Mr Hearnden said, adding: “But he didn’t listen.”

Mr Hearnden said it was clear that she had withdrawn her consent, but the defendant took no notice.

The prosecutor said: “The complainant told police officers about how the defendant was interested in all forms of bondage, biting, and giving love bites.

“He liked to leave bruises on her neck, and even talked to her about his fascination with a particular American serial killer and how he would like to go around raping and killing women. Was he joking? Or does this give an insight into Neil Scott-O’Connor’s true character.”

Neil Scott-O'Connor is on trial at Hove Crown Court

Neil Scott-O’Connor told police he denied having sex with the woman and denied he had an interest in Ted Bundy.

The 25-year-old, of St Michael’s Way, Partridge Green, denies rape, or attempting to choke, suffocate or strangle with intent to commit rape.

The trial at Hove Crown Court continues.

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