Graphic designer, 43, is found guilty of rape after attack on Airbnb host who welcomed him in as her first-ever guest

Diego Dellarovere, 43, attacked the woman at her flat in Croydon on May 7, 2021The Italian offered the woman a massage which she did not consent toThe court heard how he then forced her to perform a sex act on him The graphic designer was remanded in custody until sentencing on January 31

A graphic designer who forced his Airbnb host to perform a sex act on him and told her he would leave a ‘good review’ has been found guilty of rape.

Italian Diego Dellarovere, 43, attacked the woman at her flat in Croydon on May 7 2021, after she welcomed him as her first-ever guest.

Dellarovere had offered the woman a relaxing massage and started rubbing her shoulders as they enjoyed a glass of wine together at her home.

The Airbnb host noticed he was getting ‘handsy’, but admitted in a voice note to a friend that ‘he’s Italian and they do that’.

In her videoed police interview, played to the jury, the woman said she made it clear she did not want to be massaged by Dellarovere but he put on spa music and said he had oil.

She struggled to push him away and said: ‘I don’t want this,’ Croydon Crown Court heard, but Dellarovere then pulled down his trousers and underwear, and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Italian Diego Dellarovere, 43, attacked the woman at her flat in Croydon on May 7 2021, after she welcomed him as her first ever guest

Diego Dellarovere (pictured) outside Croydon Crown Court where he denied rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration on 7 May 2021, but the jury unanimously convicted him on all three counts after five hours and 17 minutes’ deliberation

The woman said she hid her knife block as she was scared he would stab her and barricaded herself in her bedroom with her pets.

Dellarovere told jurors they sat on the sofa, drank wine and chatted and there was ‘chemistry’ between them. He said they chatted about spiritual stuff and he gave her a relaxing ‘Reiki’ massage.

Dellarovere said he kissed and touched the woman before she performed a sex act on him, but insisted it was all consensual.

He denied rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration but the jury at Croydon Crown Court unanimously convicted him on all three counts after five hours and 17 minutes’ deliberation.

Smartly dressed in a dark suit and tie, Dellarovere looked away and made a praying motion with his hands after the verdicts were read out.

Dellarovere’s Facebook page shows the Italian enjoying holidays at some of the most exotic locations in the world.

One photo shows Dellarovere and another holidaymaker at Thailand’s Maya Bay, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach.

Dellarovere’s Facebook page shows the Italian enjoying holidays at some of the most exotic locations in the world including Thailand’s Maya Bay, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach

Dellarovere said he kissed and touched the woman before she performed a sex act on him, but insisted it was all consensual

The judge, Mr Recorder William Featherby, KC, remanded Dellarovere in custody and said: ‘A significant custodial sentence is inevitable.’

His girlfriend, who was present in court, spoke to Dellarovere in Italian and gave ironic applause to the jury as they left court.

In an apparent reference to the victim she said: ‘She’s a liar’ and shouted ‘F***ing liar’ as she stormed out of court after the hearing ended.

The woman left two voice notes with her friend, who knew she had been hosting an Airbnb customer in her flat, the next day.

In the first note, left at 10.39am, the woman said: ‘I have got a bit of a story to tell you about Diego.’

In the second she explained that they had sat on the sofa chatting, when he began making advances.

‘I was chatting with him, chatting about his life, what he does, and I was like ‘is he getting a bit handsy?’ He’s Italian and they do that so I’ll leave that slide.’

She said at one point the conversation went quiet, when Dellarovere went to give her a hug and started kissing her neck quite forcefully.

The judge, Mr Recorder William Featherby, KC, remanded Dellarovere in custody and said: ‘A significant custodial sentence is inevitable’

Dellarovere was remanded in custody ahead of sentence at Inner London crown court on 31 January 2024.

‘At one stage he had managed to get my top off and then I was like ‘you need to stop this’ but it was a good half hour more [before] stopping his advances,’ she added.

‘I was like ‘I think you should go to bed’ and he went to bed and I barricaded my door.’

She said her guest then started texting her from his bedroom, asking her if she wanted to ‘come in’ and that he’d give her a massage.

She revealed one of the texts read: ‘Are you sure you don’t want to share a bed with me, I won’t do anything, I will just lie by your side’.

Her friend told the court that she called her as soon as she got that message, saying she had sounded ‘very upset, I could hear in her voice that she was holding back emotion.’

When they met later than day, she said the woman was ‘very distressed and very very upset’ and reiterated what she had explained in the voice notes.

‘She was referring to them having this discussion on the sofa when he started to get quite physical and forceful,’ the friend said and ‘that she said ‘no’, that she didn’t consent to what was happening.’

In a text message Dellarovere said: ‘You need more light in your soul because you are making up everything’

He said he had chosen the Airbnb because ‘it was cheap, and because there was a park close by and I like nature’

‘She was scared, she was terrified of what was going to happen…and she kept repeating ‘I said no’.

‘There’s a point I can remember her saying she got up to go into the kitchen, and he had been very forceful and had forced her to perform [a sex act] on him.

‘I remember her telling me that she had taken her animals into the bedroom with her, which stuck in my brain because she loves them so dearly.

‘When he did leave she was concerned he was going to come back with someone else. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do and she just said she was terrified.’

The friend said the victim reported the incident to Airbnb ‘because she was afraid it could potentially happen to somebody else’, and straight after that it was reported to the police.

Jurors earlier heard Dellarovere left that morning and told the host: ‘I’ll leave a good review.’

The woman said she left a neutral Airbnb review about Dellarovere as a guest and he replied with an ‘angry face emoji’. They exchanged WhatsApp messages before Dellarovere blocked her.

Dellarovere told the court the woman had willingly performed a sex act on him after he gave her a massage.

Aided by an Italian interpreter he said: ‘There was a sort of chemistry. We were laughing and joking, everything was very natural.

‘At a point I remember that we looked at each other and there was a kiss.

‘At that point when there was this kiss she came closer and we became more intimate, we started to hug and touch each other. We kissed and hugged.

‘It was a chemistry, our looking at each other. I made a joke, I said ‘Look at [your dog’s] face they seem attracted by me, maybe they feel the Reiki energy.

‘I made a joke, ‘maybe you seem attracted as well?’

‘I remember that she laughed and there was this exchange of glances and there was a kiss.’

Dellarovere went on to explain how they ‘caressed’ before the situation escalated and she performed a sex act on him which apparently lasted ’10 or 20 seconds’.

‘At this point I was in an uncomfortable position, I didn’t enjoy that moment because I was in an uncomfortable position,’ he added.

‘I was going to move and then it was just like she had woken up and she stood up and went back and she said ‘No, no, it’s too soon, I made a mistake’.

‘At the point she stood up I still had my trousers down. I stood up and I said ‘Everything’s ok, there’s nothing wrong’ and I tried to hug her.

‘At this point she said ‘No, no’ and when I heard her I was embarrassed, pulled up my trousers and went in my room.’

Dellarovere told the court he then went out for a walk and they exchanged a number of text messages.

He said that initially he had been worried she thought he hadn’t enjoyed the encounter, saying: ‘I didn’t want her to feel refused. I thought she felt I didn’t want her or maybe she thought I didn’t enjoy it.’

In one message he wrote: ‘Seize the moment. Life is beautiful.’ In another he referred to a ‘BJ’ and said she had ‘LIKED IT’.

Later in the text exchange the woman had told Dellarovere: ‘You are a predator’, and his reply ended with the word ‘predator??????’.

He later wrote: ‘You really need more light in your soul, more freedom. The men are not all about evil. Why did you send that message?’

Dellarovere told the court: ‘I said ‘goodbye’, there was nothing more to explain. You need more light in your soul because you are making up everything.’

Father-of-one Dellarovere said he originally came the UK in May 2021 ‘because my fiancé was here, and I was with her.’

He also explained that he had decided to stay at an Airbnb property in Croydon ‘for my lifestyle’.

‘I like to explore new places, and in that period it was a Covid period, and I couldn’t travel or visit other places and the idea to go on a night out – it was close to my lifestyle.

He said he had chosen this place because ‘it was cheap, and because there was a park close by and I like nature.’

Dellarovere, of Holland Road, West Kensington, denied rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration on 7 May 2021.

The Italian was remanded in custody ahead of sentence at Inner London crown court on 31 January 2024.