Convicted sex offender Peter Chapman was jailed for life yesterday after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of a teenager he ensnared on a social networking site.
The defendant, of no fixed address, dramatically changed his plea at Teesside Crown Court as he was due to go on trial yesterday for the killing of Ashleigh Hall.
Mr Chapman, 33, was told by Judge Peter Fox QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, he would serve a minimum of 35 years in prison before being considered for release.
The body of the 17-year-old childcare student was found dumped in a farmer's field near Sedgefield, County Durham, last October. Miss Hall, from Darlington, was strangled and left near a known lovers' lane.
Mr Chapman, a convicted rapist with a long history of sexual offending, also pleaded guilty to failing to notify police of a change of address, as required by the sex offenders register.
Yesterday, at Teesside Crown Court, prosecutor Graham Reeds QC outlined how Mr Chapman had lured Ms Ashleigh to her death.
He had posed as a fictitious good-looking 19-year-old boy called 'Peter Cartwright' on Facebook - even posting fake pictures - to befriend the college student. After becoming her Facebook friend and chatting on other social networking sites he arranged to meet her on the evening of October 25 last year.
Knowing that Ms Ashleigh was expecting to meet a teenage boy and not a 33-year-old, Mr Chapman led her to believe that Peter Cartwright's father would pick her up.
"When she met him on October 25 last year, he kidnapped, raped and murdered her," Mr Reeds said.
"Having organised the 'Pete's dad' cover story, having researched the location of the intended crime scene and having just travelled to the area to check it, the defendant had now sprung the trap," the barrister told the court.
The prosecutor went onto explain that Mr Chapman drove Ms Ashleigh to an area off the A177 at Thorpe Larches, near Sedgefield, County Durham.
"It was at this location the prosecution say the defendant raped Ashleigh Hall," Mr Reeds said, adding, "It is also possible that she was murdered at this location before her body was transported to the location at which it was discovered the next day. After removing her lower clothing she was gagged with duct tape wound around her face, bound by the forearms with tape and forced her into sexual intercourse.
At some stage the bindings around her arms were removed - most likely to allow her to pull up and fasten her lower clothing. But then after the rape her arms were bound up again and further tape was put over her face, suffocating her to death."