A SEX attacker who assembled a "rape kit" to assault a university student was jailed for 10 years yesterday.

Marcus Hance, 32, a cross-dresser, was told that his victim, a 21-year-old student at Exeter University, was confronted by "every woman's worst nightmare - a hooded rapist". Hance prepared his attack with "meticulous and chilling" attention to detail to ensure that there would be no forensic link between him and his victim, Exeter Crown Court heard. He shaved his body hair, trimmed his finger nails and plucked his nose hair and eyebrows.

He wore tights around his Kicker shoes so as not to leave distinctive footprints and carried lengths of tights to tie up his victim. He also wrote a long list of all the items he would need to carry out the attack on a footpath near the university. It included a knife, balaclava, gloves, tights to tie up and gag his victim, and condoms.

Hance's plot failed because the student screamed in terror and a passing lecturer went to her aid. He fled into woods but was tracked by a police dog. Hance, unemployed, of Saltash Road, Plymouth, admitted attempted rape and attempted kidnap. Jailing him, Mr Justice Butterfield told him: "You came to Exeter with the intention of finding a victim you could rape.

"You wore a balaclava to mask your features and strike terror into the heart of your victim. The student walking home was confronted with every woman's worst nightmare - a hooded rapist. She was terrified. Had you not been disturbed I am satisfied you would have completed the act of rape." The judge said the woman was "still constantly affected by her recollections of this dreadful incident".