A MAN has been warned he faces a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of the multiple rape of a Southampton sex worker.

Judge Jane Miller QC asked for a report to assess how dangerous Ivars Balodis is to the public after hearing he had been jailed for nine years in his Latvian homeland for robbery.

Jurors had taken less than three hours to find Balodis guilty of four counts of rape and one of causing actual bodily harm.

Southampton police had arrested the 38-year-old at his home in Kent Street, Northam, hours after he had attacked the prostitute who had been looking for business in Bevois Valley.

The city crown court heard the 35-year-old woman approached Balodis and a friend on their way home after a night out in pubs. But when he could not meet her £20 fee, she turned to walk away.

Balodis however grabbed her by the hair, kicked her in the face, put a hand around her throat and pinned her against railings before she relented and he raped her.

Balodis, denied the allegations, denied being violent and claimed full sex had not happened.

Further remanded in custody, he will be sentenced next month.