A homeless man held a terrified woman hostage and attacked her near his tent in a Chessington wood.

Shaun Bedward lured Marion Kuit down a dark country lane after telling her he wanted to give her money, old medals and poems before he left the area, having lived in a tent in woods there for an unknown amount of time.

But when Ms Kuit became scared the 6ft man began shouting and swearing and grabbed his 4ft 10in victim by the wrists, pushed her to the ground and held her down with his body for about five minutes.

Kingston Crown Court heard on Tuesday, January 24, how the Epsom woman thought she would be raped or killed and only managed to flee when he turned his back for a moment and released her.

Bedward, who kept a book about serial killers in his tent in the woods, was later found by police sitting under a bridge on the A3 with his head in his hands.

He admitted a charge of false imprisonment at Kingston Crown Court this week.

Ms Kuit was visiting horses she owns in fields near Barwell Farm, Chessington, at about 6pm on Monday, November 7, last year, when her ordeal began.

The two, who had exchanged greetings if they passed on bridleways over a number of years years, drove a short distance before walking half-a-mile along a track.

Liz Lockwood, prosecuting, said: “At one point he pointed at some hay bales and said ‘There’s something there like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’.”

He began to attack her and at one point told her: “If I wanted to rape you I could have at any time.”

The court heard that after Ms Kuit fled, she and her attacker called the police and a member of the public reported a man hanging off a bridge over the A3.

Officers found Bedward sitting under the bridge and later had to use CS gas to capture him safely.

A later search found strong tape in Bedward’s bag, which he claimed was to fix his tent, and the book Serial Killers, The Stories of History’s Most Evil Murderers, in his tent.

On Tuesday, January 24, Judge Richard Southwell heard Bedward had previous convictions for robbery and possession of an imitation firearm, and postponed sentencing until March 6.