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A terrified woman wrote a would-be rapist a £20,000 cheque to leave her alone.

The frightened victim had the brainwave after a sex attacker barged into her home, pinned her against a wall and ordered her to get undressed.

As Martin Cartwright, 49, began undoing his trousers, the woman offered him the money.

Cartwright took the cheque and left but warned her: "If you say anything, even in a thousand years, I'll kill you."

Prosecutor Tim Forster told a court: "He paid the money into his bank account. He told cashiers he had won the lottery."

When police caught up with Cartwright, he claimed he had heard voices from Jesus "saying I should rape someone".

Cartwright, from Guildford, Surrey, was ordered to be held in a secure psychiatric unit indefinitely after admitting attempted rape, sexual assault, and attempted robbery during a three-month crime spree last year. It included an attempted rape in South West London when he barged into a woman's house armed with a knife.

But after grabbing her breast, he flipped and yelled: "Open the door. Let me out."

A month later, he threatened to beat up a shop assistant in Surrey after demanding money from the till.

But he fled after being told police were on their way.

Guildford crown court heard Cartwright did not have any previous convictions.

But he was having a "psychotic episode" when he offended.

Judge Christopher Critchlow said Cartwright still posed a "serious risk to women".

He is considered so dangerous he can only ever be released by the Secretary of State for Health.

He told the cashier he had won the lottery PROSECUTOR TIM FORSTER