IF millionaire businessman David Atherton had been an advert for cocaine, no one would ever take the drug again, a jury heard yesterday.

The dot.com tycoon, aged 51, is on trial accused of attempting to rape a 49-year-old woman at his luxury mansion in Heaton, Bolton.

A court has already been told how the self-made millionaire, who made a fortune when he sold web firm, Dabs.com, had a severe cocaine addiction and regularly used the drug.

Leeds Crown Court yesterday heard from defence witness, Wendy Waring, who said Atherton needed to spend 28 days in the exclusive Priory rehab centre after his arrest. She told the jury: “He needed to go there as part of his bail conditions but it takes more than 28 days to get well.

“One time I saw him and he looked like a tramp, he looked like he had just dived out of a bush. If David Atherton had been an advert for cocaine no one would ever take the drug again.”

Miss Waring, a friend of Atherton’s, said that he became paranoid and went through a period of going to hospital because he believed he was having heart attacks.

She said: “I felt like as soon as I drove away from his house, people were coming in with drugs. Every day it felt that he needed help, more than I could give.

“Sometimes I didn’t understand what he was talking about so I just pretended.”

Another friend, Frank Spencer, told the court that he thought Atherton’s lifestyle was “a bit weird” and mentioned that he knew he was involved in drugs.

Atherton of Victoria Road, Heaton, denies five charges, including attempted rape, sexual assault, making a threat to kill and false imprisonment.