NEW YORK — Peter Braunstein's Halloween sex attack on a former colleague in the fashion industry was a first step in what was supposed to be an elaborate plot culminating in the murder of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, jurors in Braunstein's trial heard Friday.

In four meetings with New York University neuropsychologist William Barr after Braunstein's arrest, the former Women's Wear Daily reporter described a scheme for revenge against the fashion industry and his ex-girlfriend, Barr testified at Manhattan Supreme Court.

Barr said that Braunstein, who is charged with 13 counts, including kidnapping, assault and sex abuse, for the attack, planned to embark on a nationwide crime spree of petty thievery and robberies that would end with the murder of Wintour, a "representative" for everything he despised about the fashion industry.

Braunstein compared himself to Gianni Versace's killer, Andrew Cunanan, Barr said, and planned to end his terror spree by taking his life, just as Cunanan did in 1997, eight days after shooting Versace at his Miami home.

"He wanted to bring his anger home to Wintour and others in the fashion industry, just as Cunanan brought it home to Versace," Barr told jurors Friday. "He said one way to get back at the fashion industry was to get to its leader."

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The first major step in Braunstein's plan, Barr testified, was an attack on a former colleague at Fairchild Publications, who Braunstein described as another "haughty" archetype of the fashion industry.

The woman testified at the beginning of Braunstein's three-week trial that he gained entry to her home disguised as a firefighter, knocked her out with chloroform and tied her to her bed. She said he fondled and groped her. The next morning, she said, he left with a fur coat and a Louis Vuitton bag from her closet.

Barr said that Braunstein's departure from Women's Wear Daily in 2002 and his break-up with W magazine beauty editor Jane Larkworthy in 2003 sparked a need for revenge. Furthermore, the doctor testified, the methodical and obsessive manner with which Braunstein plotted and carried out the attack was consistent with behavior of someone suffering from a borderline personality disorder and an anti-social disorder.

Barr said he did not believe that Braunstein suffered from schizophrenia or delusions.

His clinical findings contradict those of the defense's psychiatrist, who spent two days on the stand defending her claim that Braunstein suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was acting out a delusional fantasy as he planned and executed the attack.