A lonely woman who thought she had found “love and romance” on an internet dating site was raped, assaulted and treated like a slave in a horrific ordeal, a court has heard.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met 34-year-old Colin Leacock on Match.com in 2015.
She moved in with him in west London shortly after, because she "felt lonely and wanted to be loved again" following a previous abusive relationship.
But Leacock’s sister, Mandy Leacock, allegedly forced her to live with her instead, to prove she was good enough for her brother.
Mandy Leacock treated the woman like a slave, ordering her to cook and clean as an "unpaid skivvy", punishing her by dousing her with bleach as she sat in a bath.
And jurors heard the victim was also repeatedly punched and kicked by the pair, and swung around by her hair until it came out in chunks.
The court was told on two occasions Leacock forced her to perform oral sex on him at his flat.
Speaking for the prosecution about the victim David Povall said: "She was living in a state of fear, oppression, being bullied and controlled."
Leacock, of Bourne Terrace in Paddington, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of two counts of rape and two of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Jurors were told Mandy Leacock was not on trial but had previously pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, including pulling the woman's hair and using bleach on her.
The trial continues.
