The Dutchman charged with raping a refugee at the refugee centre in Germany where he worked has been found not guilty, the Telegraaf said on Thursday.

The paper said a ‘lengthy online chat’ between the two shows she was part of an ‘intimate loving relationship’, the paper quotes a court in Arnsberg as saying.

The 22-year-old woman from Syria made a formal complaint that she had been raped four times by Paul M, had become pregnant and underwent an abortion.

The man’s lawyer said the Whatsapp conversation – made up of a 150 different exchanges – was on the computer seized by police six months ago but were only found when pointed out by himself.

‘It is a catastrophe that my client has spend six months in custody,’ he told German media.

Nevertheless, local paper Westfalenpost points out that the man had failed to mention he had convictions in the Netherlands and was able to obtain a certificate of good behaviour from the German authorities.

The man is said to have abused a niece in 2000 and a 15-year-old foster child in 2011.