Keynsham man guilty of raping woman he met on dating site

Jurors at Salisbury Crown Court returned a guilty verdict after an hour-and-a-half of deliberations

A man who raped a woman he met on a dating website has been warned by a judge to expect a "substantial sentence" for his crime.

Malcolm Compton, 59, of Carpenters Lane, Keynsham, was found unanimously guilty of one count of rape by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court on Thursday.

Compton attacked the victim in September 2020, one week after they met in person.

He will be sentenced on 18 March at Winchester or Salisbury Crown Court.

The court had earlier heard that Compton first met his victim on the dating website, where they had been communicating online for about a week before agreeing to meet in person.

The woman had made it clear that she just wanted to be friends and was looking for someone to keep her company at home.

Wiltshire Police said Compton stayed at her house then almost immediately began to pressure her into sexual activity, and exercised controlling behaviour, before raping her on 11 September.

His victim reported the offence the following day.

Following the conviction, Det Con Jeremy Horner said: "I would like to pay tribute to the victim in this case for her bravery in reporting this despicable crime and supporting us in our subsequent investigation - during which she has shown real inner strength and dignity throughout."

He said Compton "showed a callous disregard for the physical and emotional damage that he inflicted on his victim who was simply seeking companionship".

"He exercised controlling behaviour over her almost from the moment they met and decided to callously ignore her repeated requests to leave her alone in order to satisfy his own desire."