AN aeronautics graduate who raped an East Lancashire woman he met on a popular dating website has been jailed.

Scott Lazenby, 27, threw his victim onto a bed, at her home in Colne, before molesting her and raping her twice, Burnley Crown Court heard.

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He had exchanged messages with the woman via the Plenty of Fish website before arranging to meet her, the court was told.

Four days earlier Lazenby had struck at the home of another woman in Ashton-under-Lyne, groping her breast underneath her clothing, in front of her young son, while they were sat on a sofa in her living room.

She protested immediately and had started ringing 999 as Lazenby left the house, the court heard.

Lazenby, of Swift Close, Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, had denied two offences of rape and one charge each of assault by penetration and sexual assault, in relation to the two incidents but was convicted after a trial.

Sentencing him to seven years in prison, Judge Andrew Woolman said the fact people signed up to the Plenty of Fish website, and may have indicated they are open to sexual encounters, ‘does not mean that they consent to sex regardless’.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said the Colne victim had reported to police how her ordeal had left her depressed and affected the way she treated her young daughter.

His Ashton-under-Lyne victim had also been left traumatised and ‘stressed’ and felt unable to socialise properly for some time afterwards.

The court heard both women had been able to meet new partners, who had each been ‘understanding and supportive’ in helping them to overcome their experiences at Lazenby’s hands.

Michael Hayton, defending, said his client, after completing a degree in aeronautical engineering, had enjoyed a successful related career, which had now ‘thrown away’ by his conduct on the days in question.

Lazenby had an ‘open relationship’ with his partner, who he met through the website. But difficulties had arisen when she had not wanted children.

He had gone back to Plenty of Fish, to seek new partners, ‘at her behest’, said Mr Hayton.

Judge Woolman ordered Lazenby to sign the sex offenders register for life and imposed a 13-year sexual harm prevention order, banning him from logging on to dating websites.