A FORMER soldier has been found guilty of raping a woman who he met on an online swingers’ dating site.

Ezra Robinson went on to have a two-year relationship with the woman and they had a child together.

He went on to force himself on her while she slept after the relationship had turned sour.

He was able to use the Fabswingers website – where he met his victim – despite already having a conviction for a previous rape and being on the sex offenders’ register.

He is a body builder who was working on a building site and the victim was unable to stop him when he had sex with her against her will.

He threatened to kill her if she went to the police but she summoned up the courage to report him.

Former Royal Engineer Robinson, who served in mine and explosive clearing operations in Afghanistan, has been told to expect a jail term of at least seven years after a judge at Exeter Crown Court ordered the probation to assess whether he poses a danger to the public.

Judge Stephen Climie adjourned sentence until April and remanded him in custody.

He told him: “You have been found guilty of offences that warrant significant custodial terms.”

Robinson, aged 31, originally from Moretonhampstead but of Lamb Park, Drewsteignton, denied rape but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court. He was also convicted of coercive and controlling behaviour. He will be sentenced in April.

The jury reached their verdicts without being told that he was a convicted rapist, although they were told that he had previously been jailed for a “serious sexual offence”.

Judge Climie explained that decision to the jury after they had returned their verdict.

He said: “You were told he had a conviction for a serious sexual offence. It was rape but there is an inevitable prejudice that attaches to that word.

“One of the factors we have to look at when someone is convicted of rape more than once is what is called dangerousness, which has a very specific legal definition. This is probably a case where there needs to be a report.”

The judge said a finding of dangerousness would lead to an extended period of licence which would be added on to any sentence he may serve. He also said a probation report would look at Robinson’s mental health issues.

During a ten-day trial, Miss Kelly Scrivener, prosecuting, said Robinson met the woman after contacting her through the Fabswingers website. The date went well and they went on to form a relationship.

She found him attractive at first and described him as being “the energy in the room”, but the relationship turned sour. On their final meeting he forced her to have sex. He told her he had a conviction for a sexual offence but tried to minimise it.

Robinson said all sexual contact with the woman was consensual and denied ever forcing her to have sex with him or using or threatening violence. He said he had been in the army for nearly five years and had previously been married.

He said he was working as a plant operator at a building site in Ivybridge at the time of his arrest.