RAPIST GETS LIFE: THE neighbour whose call to the police helped to bring rapist Evans to justice is still horrified and disgusted that a man he knew should have had such a dreadful secret.

James Coates, a 35-year-old member of the Royal Engineers, said: "I am stunned at how these people exist.

"They truly are here and they are among us, and we just get on with our daily lives as if there is nothing wrong.

"The worst thing about it is that Evans will at some point possibly be let out again how can we let that happen?

"What is wrong is that he has a previous conviction for rape and that could not be brought up in court."

Mr Coates knew Evans for three years, and in all that time Evans never gave a clue that he was in any way abnormal, let alone that he had already served a prison sentence for rape.

The first Mr Coates knew of last December's attack was when Evans approached him some time later.

This was after Evans had spotted a CCTV image of himself on the front page of the Evening Advertiser, with an article saying the police wanted to eliminate the man in the picture from their inquiries.

On reading the article, Mr Coates challenged Evans, who claimed that on the night of the rape he had been at the St Tropez health club in Victoria Road.

There, he claimed, he had paid a prostitute for sex.

Mr Coates, like several other members of the public, contacted the police.

He said today that Evans had given every appearance of being a normal family man albeit one who was not overly fond of work.

Evans would ask Mr Coates for advice on various domestic issues, from family matters to finance.

Mr Coates said: "He came to me when he had trouble with loan companies and mortgages, or if he wanted advice about his wife or his baby.

"He would wait until I came home and then he would be out of the door for a cup of tea."