A RUGBY player was convicted on Thursday (28) of violently raping two women, one of whom he met outside a bar in Acton.

Paulo Kretteis, 22, of Petts Hill, Northolt, was found guilty of two counts of rape and making a threat to kill following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

He had previously admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the two incidents.

Kretteis had been out with his rugby team when he spotted the victim, who had been drinking, outside The Chatsworth Bar in Acton in the early hours in October 2019.

He befriended her and, after walking her back to her home in Hammersmith, asked if she would accompany him to a nearby bus stop.

As they approached a secluded footbridge, Kretteis grabbed hold of his victim’s throat and began squeezing it and threatening to kill her.

He started pulling at her trousers and hitting her face before orally raping her.

The 25-year-old victim escaped after noticing someone walking close by. She ran into the road and a taxi driver with passengers stopped and called the police.

Some months later, police were called to reports of a second woman who had been raped and attacked in Ealing.

Kretteis was later traced from DNA found on the jacket of his first victim.

He will be sentenced at a later date.