A prison officer told a court that she thought notorious criminal Jimmy Holland was going to rape her after he "pointed a knife" at her in her living room after he escaped from jail.

Christine Robertson who was found naked in bed with Holland, described as one of the "most dangerous and feared prisoners in Scotland", after he absconded from Castle Huntly open prison last March.

The 45-year-old, who was one of the officers who guarded Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali-Mohmed Al-Megrahi during his trial at Camp Zeist, claims she was coerced into keeping Holland at her flat in Monifieth, Angus.

Robertson, giving evidence in her defence, on Monday claimed that Holland had become "infatuated" with her - before threatening her if she didn't exchange phone calls, text messages and letters with him.

She said that Holland's feelings were not reciprocated by her - but she sent him the messages as she feared Holland would give her address to "his brothers and their friends".

In one message she described how she wanted him in a "nice silky bed".

Robertson told her trial at Dundee Sheriff Court that on March 16 last year she was at home in the town's Reform Street when her phone rang - with the caller telling her her friend "Pickled Pete" had been involved in an incident in nearby Broughty Ferry.

Robertson said she had got in her BMW car to go to her friend's aid - but had arrived in Broughty Ferry unable to find him.

She said Holland then appeared and said: "Alright."

Robertson told the court: "He was standing eating a bag of chips as if it was something you just do."

She told the court that he claimed he was on home leave at a bail hostel in Dundee - but didn't have enough money to get back there.

Robertson said she decided to drive him back - but had to return home first to get money as her car had only "three or four miles" of fuel in it.

When she got back to her Monifieth home she said she told Holland to stay in the car while she got her purse.

She said Holland initially stayed outside - but moments after she got in he had appeared in her hallway.

The warder said Holland then went into her kitchen and took a knife from a block - saying he would "need it for going to Glasgow".

Robertson said: "I feared the worst - that he would stab me or rape me."

She said that she tried to reason with him for two hours, before he became angry and told her: "go through to the bedroom and strip off."

Robertson said she did so, then lay in bed for more than six hours alone and naked while Holland made phone calls in the living room.

She said that at one stage she asked for her dog to be brought in to her, adding: "I was scared for the dog because if he's going to harm me then he will harm the dog."

He grabbed the dog, opened the bedroom door and kicked the dog in to the bedroom."

Robertson said that she eventually heard Holland in the bathroom neighbouring her bedroom - just as cops started to batter her door down. She said that Holland then entered the bedroom for the first time just as police crashed into the flat to arrest him.

Fiscal depute Douglas Wiseman asked Robertson: "Why didn't you tell the police about any of this at the time?"

She replied: "They didn't ask."

The trial has already heard how police received intelligence that Holland was at Robertson's Angus flat - before breaking down her door in a planned operation to locate him.

When they burst in they found Holland and Robertson naked together in her bed.

Holland then had to be blasted with a Taser stun gun to subdue him as he waved a knife at officers.

Robertson, 45, of Reform Street, Monifieth, Angus, denies aiding and abetting James Holland in absconding and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Robertson has lodged a special defence of coercion in the case.

The trial, before Sheriff Tom Hughes continues.