A DRUG dealer who raped his “secretary” at knifepoint has been jailed for at least 15 years.

Steven Anderson, 34, from Jaywick, had been a friend of the woman’s for seven years, enticing her to a world of Class A drugs.

He started to exploit her, giving her crack cocaine on a regular basis.

When travelling he would leave his drugs with the victim and people were told to deal with her.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard she didn’t want the role, but referred to herself as his “secretary”.

Anderson would accuse her of taking his drugs so that she would be indebted to him.

He returned from London on December 13, 2019, and accused her of taking drugs and money, following which he threw a perfume bottle at a television, causing it to break.

He also held a meat clever to her throat and damaged a staircase with it, following which he locked her in the house for a day.

On January 2, 2020, he again accused her of taking his drugs and hit her around the head with a wooden meat tenderiser.

She later tried to escape but was dragged back to the house by her hair and was assaulted, suffering a broken jaw, before being raped at knifepoint twice.

She escaped to her mother’s home the following day and the police were called.

Anderson was arrested in Homerton three weeks later.

Jamie Sawyer, prosecuting, said there had been a “campaign of violence” against the victim.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said: “I honestly believed I would be killed.

“I trusted Steven and he abused me in the worst way possible. The scars I have will never leave me.”

Emma Akuwudike, mitigating, pleaded for a degree of mercy on behalf of Anderson, who had previously been convicted 16 times for 29 offences.

“He does express some remorse,” she said.

“He seems to acknowledge he has to change and can’t continue with these chaotic and violent offences and wishes to turn his life around.”

Anderson, who had been found guilty of seven charges following a trial in December, was jailed for 15 years when he appeared at court on Tuesday.

He was jailed for 15 years for rape, 4 years for causing grievous bodily harm with intent, 4 years for making threats to kill, 4 years for false imprisonment, 5 months for assault by beating, and 3 months for criminal damage – to serve concurrently – and to serve a further 6 years on licence.