Man (42) accused of raping two teenage girls

Tony Chapman (42) appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one of making threats to kill and three of rape.

The assault, threat and one rape are alleged by one complainant, a young woman who was just 16 when she first met Chapman.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met the defendant on a bus he was driving in 2013.

She told police that Chapman, of Lindley Street in Eastwood, said he was just 27 and single at the time, before writing down his phone number for her.

In fact, he was then married to but separated from his wife Claire Chapman, with whom he later reconciled, the court heard.

Chapman and the girl began having sex but he allegedly subjected her to shouting, shoving, punching, kicking or headbutting “every week”.

Jurors watched footage of a 2016 police interview in which the young woman described Chapman pushing her over a sofa, banging her head.

She also alleged that the defendant once cornered her in a bathroom, threatening to stab her with a kitchen knife, telling her: “I’m not afraid to do it. No-one would miss you.”

After one row, Chapman raped her, the woman claimed.

The other complainant, who also cannot be named, says Chapman twice raped her in his van, the court heard.

Prosecutor Mr Peter Hampton, opening the case, said: “On the right day this defendant could be nice. He could be lovely.

“But catch him on the wrong day and he could be violent, controlling and temperamental. His mood could change just like that.”

Chapman denies all of the charges. The trial continues.