Keynsham man jailed for raping woman he met on dating website

A victim impact statement was read out at Winchester Crown Court

A "controlling" rapist has been jailed for five years for attacking a woman he met through a dating website.

Malcolm Compton, 60, "took advantage" of the woman despite her insisting she "just wanted to be friends".

Jailing him at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Andrew Barnett said Compton had raped her while she was "plainly not consenting" on 11 September 2020.

Compton, of Carpenters Lane, Keynsham, Somerset, must also sign the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said she felt "ashamed at what happened" and that she "couldn't fight him off".

'Traumatised'

She wrote: "I was traumatised by what happened. I still blame myself for what happened, I invited him into my house, I trusted him, that he wouldn't take advantage of me."

The victim said her self-confidence had been affected by the attack and she now needed to take sleeping tablets.

The pair began talking on dating website Badoo a week before they met in person, in September 2020.

Compton was invited back to the woman's house where he stayed with her for several nights, carrying out handiwork.

During this time he began to show the woman affection, "which initially wasn't entirely rebuffed", the judge said.

He added: "There were occasions when you slept near her or in her bed and it was the last night when this criminal act happened, you raped her with her plainly not consenting."

Compton was found unanimously guilty, of one count of rape, last month by a jury sitting at Salisbury Crown Court and was told he faced a "substantial" prison sentence ahead of Friday's hearing.

'Controlling behaviour'

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "Compton's victim made it clear that she was seeking companionship and that she just wanted to be friends.

"But almost immediately after moving in, he began to pressure her into sexual activity, and exercise controlling behaviour."

Det Con Jeremy Horner paid tribute to the victim's bravery for reporting this "despicable crime and supporting us in our subsequent investigation - during which she has shown real inner strength and dignity throughout".