A FORMER Southend footballer has been found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman.

Tesfaye Bramble, 30, was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court, in Yorkshire, over the incident which happened on September 22 last year.

Bramble, who played for the Shrimpers from 2001 to 2005, had pleaded not guilty but the judge Geoffrey Marson told the striker he now faces an “inevitable” prison sentence.

The incident happened at the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle when the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went back to the hotel room of the footballer.