A man has today been found guilty of raping five women and assaulting two more after arranging to meet them on popular dating site Match.com.
Derby Crown Court heard that 50-year-old Jason Lawrance from Hampshire used two profiles on the site to meet seven women between June 2011 and November 2014.
Using the usernames “keepitstraighttoday” and “straightmanlooking”, he would engage in conversation on the site but was eager to meet the women offline.
Police began investigating Lawrance after receiving a call back in November 2014 from a woman who claimed one of her friends had been raped by him.
The jury also heard that in July 2013, Lawrance contacted a woman just 24 hours after attempting to rape her at her home in Lincolnshire.
And in November that year, he had consensual sex at a victim’s house in Derbyshire, but raped her the next day, despite her “screaming hysterically”.
He later sent her a text message, which read: “When you were crying out for me to stop I couldn’t, I’m so mad at myself xxx”, and another saying: “I was disgusted with myself for hurting you. I am so sorry. I am too rough for you xxx xx”.
The court also heard that in June 2011, Lawrance drove a woman down a remote country lane in Northamptonshire and raped her in the back of his van.
During the hearing, Lawrance was also convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in February 2014, after grabbing her right breast over her clothing in a parked car near East Midlands Airport.
In addition to this, he was found guilty of raping a woman in a hotel room in Cambridgeshire in October 2014, after he slapped her face and proceeded to bite her lip, neck and breast.
The court also heard that Lawrance raped another women he had met on Match, and another at her home after a meeting at a coffee shop in Sheffield.
He was described by police as a “sexual predator”, however, during his defence, Lawrance claimed he had consensual sex with the victims.
Detective Chief Inspector Allison Rigby said: “Jason Lawrance is a prolific, serial rapist who preyed on women he had contacted through Match.com.
“These women were looking for companionship and instead what they found was a man who was willing to commit serious sexual offences against them.”
Three of the attacks took place after he got married to another person he had also met on site.
Match.com has since expressed its “most heartfelt concern” for the victims, ensuring that the safety of its users is its highest priority.
Lawrance will be sentenced on Thursday.