AN EX-SOLDIER who once won £65,000 compensation for a wrongful rape conviction was jailed yesterday for an horrific sex assault on a defenceless woman.

Former soldier John Ellison shook his head before lowering it into his hands and crying as a jury at Teesside Crown Court returned guilty verdicts to charges of rape and indecent assault.

The jury of eight men and four women took two hours to reach its verdict after hearing the four-day trial.

Five years ago, the ex-Scots Guard wept with joy when he was awarded £65,000 damages against the Ministry of Defence after being wrongfully convicted of raping a woman soldier.

Ellison was convicted of raping the private at a German army base in 1990 by a court martial, but was cleared in 1992.

He served more than two years of a five-year prison sentence.

After being awarded the massive compensation pay out, Ellison said life in prison had been "hell" adding: "I'm just planning to get my life back, get some work, and be normal like anyone else."

Yet on the very day he recived his pay-out, Ellison physically assaulted a 19-year-old girl in Crook, County Durham.

The following year the 32-year-old was jailed for two months for indecently assaulting a girl under 16 in Plymouth.

But last year, he was acquitted by a jury of attempted rape in Tow Law, County Durham, in May 1999.

Jurors accepted his protestations that he had not dragged a woman along Church Lane, pinned her against a wall on a driveway and stripped her semi-naked.

Liverpool-born Ellison, of Sunniside, Tow Law, also has a string of 40 other previous convictions for violence and public order and driving offences dating back to 1982.

In the latest case, Ellison once more denied raping and indecently assaulting a woman on November 15 last year.

The court heard from Dan Cordey, prosecuting, that his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met Ellison in a pub in Bishop Auckland on November 15.

The pair both had a lot to drink, they got on well and shared a kiss before going to her house for a drink.

It was there, the court heard, that Ellison changed from being charming and chatty - losing his temper when the woman rang her mother.

He pinned his victim to the ground, removed her belt and attempted to strangled her with it.

At one point during the ordeal, Ellison tried to feel her breasts and discovered one had been removed following cancer. When he felt the prosthetic he removed it and threw it across the room. The woman received more than 20 bruises to her face and body.

She was then raped and indecently assaulted in her living room before managing to escape.

Mr Cordey said Ellison had been clever enough to try to cover his tracks by taking her jeans to a bedroom, where he also ruffled the bedclothes.

Ellison told the jury they had gone to bed and there had been consensual sexual contact, although no intercourse due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

Ellison had, however, forgotten to take the prosthetic breast and the woman's knickers upstairs, suggesting his story was not true.

Police found him still in the house, sitting drinking vodka.

Judge Peter Armstrong said Ellison had also used considerable violence on the woman.

"She survived, but it must have been an absolutely terrifying experience for her."

The judge sentenced Ellison to seven years for rape, with four years for indecent assault to run concurrently. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for an indeterminate period.