A rapist who struck twice in Southend in the space of just two hours will be sentenced next month.

Burly Michael Mason, 26, of Weston Road, Southend, subjected two women to terrifying ordeals as they walked home alone.

The rapes sparked a massive manhunt -- and Mason was arrested within 48 hours.

He admitted the two rapes on Monday when he appeared before a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court. He will be sentenced next month.

The court heard how Mason savagely attacked the two women within an hour-and-a-half of each other in the early hours of Friday March 19.

He dragged a 24-year-old woman into an outbuilding as she walked through an alleyway between Church Road and Lucy Road before raping her.

The woman fought back bravely, but Mason slammed her head against a metal panel, cutting it, before subjecting her to the attack.

Then, just an hour-and-a-half later, he struck again just a half-a-mile up the road in a parking bay in Gordon Road, off Ashburnham Road. This time the victim was a petrified 18-year-old woman.

Judge John Rogers told the court that he felt he couldn't sentence Mason properly without receiving a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report from the prison service.

He concluded: "He is going to go to prison, there's no question about that, and he will be serving part of his time in the time it takes for these reports to be prepared."

Earlier Peter Lodder QC, defending, said a drink and drug problem had contributed to Mason committing the terrible offences.

He said: "This led to him behaving in what was otherwise a fashion that he has hitherto not behaved in -- he accepts his culpability for that."

Mason will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday July 16.

Guilty - double rapist Michael Mason

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