A MAN has been found guilty of raping a woman in her home in the Lowestoft area.

Lizzie Parry

A MAN has been found guilty of raping a woman in her home in the Lowestoft area.

Andrew Cole, 31, of Balantyne Drive, Colchester, was convicted of rape and common assault by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court this afternoon.

However, the jury of seven men and five women cleared Cole of three further offences - causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, assault by penetration and assault causing actual bodily harm.

The victim, a 27-year-old single mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met Cole on a telephone chat lines and exchanged conversations and text messages for around six months before meeting him for the first time on Saturday, February 16, when the incident took place.

Cole travelled to her home in the Lowestoft area where he and the victim engaged in consensual sex shortly after he arrived. Later the defendant raped the woman.

Cole has suffered from bipolar manic depression and hyper mania for a number of years.

Judge Neil McKittrick ordered Cole to sign the sex offenders register, and made a requirement for a full psychiatric report before sentencing could occur.

He said: “I ask issues of dangerousness and risk be at the forefront. It is important I have the full picture before sentencing. Plainly dangerousness is a live issue in this case.”