A man accused of choking a 91-year-old hotel guest in her bed was tracked down from DNA he left behind on a cigarette butt, a court heard.

Tilly Rabinovitch said she believed she was going to be raped or killed when Jose Ferreira broke into her room.

The pensioner was made to bleed by Ferreira as he tried to force her to keep quiet while she lay terrified in bed in the Eastbourne hotel.

He fled after stealing £25 from her purse but left behind a butt.

Ferreira, 44, of Seaside, Eastbourne, has denied robbing Ms Rabinovitch in July last year.

The jury at Hove Crown Court heard she went to bed at 11pm and was still awake reading a newspaper when she realised a man was in her room at the Carlton Hotel in Marine Parade.

She asked him what he was doing and he put his finger to his lips to hush her so she started telling him to get out.

Ferreira leant over her and began to choke her and when she screamed he put his fist over her mouth, causing her lip to bleed.

He left her bedside to continue his search of her room but repeatedly returned and placed his hands around her throat.

In a statement, Ms Rabinovitch told how she was visiting the town with her pensioners' group and had arrived five days earlier, staying in a single room with a balcony.

She said: "I really thought my time was up. I was concerned he was going to rape me. He lent over me and put his hands around my throat.

"I began to scream. He put his fist against my mouth.

"He was there for about 40 minutes. He looked a bit mad, like a lunatic."

She said she offered him £5 from her purse but he took all the money she had in it.

Julian Woodbridge, prosecuting, said guests staying in a neighbouring room on the second floor alerted the night porter after hearing Ms Rabinovitch shout for help.

When the porter arrived at her door, he saw a man come out mumbling in broken English: "We have just made love." He left the hotel.

Ms Rabinovitch, who suffered bruises and grazes, was taken to hospital for treatment.

Mr Woodbridge said when the cigarette, which the robber allegedly left on the bedside cabinet, was tested it showed there was a one in a one billion chance the DNA did not match the defendant's profile.

The trial continues.