Why was Ashleigh Hall's killer left at large for nine months? (From The Northern Echo)

Why was Ashleigh Hall's killer left at large for nine months?

7:25am Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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A CONVICTED sex offender was allowed to roam free for nine months before he went on to kill a teenage girl he met on the internet, it emerged yesterday.

The family of Ashleigh Hall have demanded answers as to why police on Merseyside did not issue an alert for Peter Chapman once they realised he was not at his registered address.

Instead, officers waited nine months, until September last year, before issuing a nationwide alert.

Chapman was arrested the following month, but by then it was too late – he had killed 17-year-old Ashleigh the previous day.

Yesterday, at Teesside Crown Court, Chapman was sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder, rape and kidnap of the Darlington teenager.

The 33-year-old, who is originally from Stockton, also pleaded guilty to failing to register a change of address as required by the Sexual Offences Act.

Ashleigh’s body was discovered in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, in October last year.

She had gone missing the previous day, having told her mother she was staying at a friend’s house in North Yorkshire.

In reality, she had arranged to meet Chapman, who had duped her into thinking he was a good-looking 19-yearold boy.

Yesterday, it was also revealed that Chapman was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1996 for raping two Teesside prostitutes at knifepoint.

He has also been linked with four other sexual offences, including two rapes.

The first of these sexual offences took place when he began to make arrangements to meet the teenager.

Mr Reeds said Chapman came up with the idea of posing as the father of the 19- year-old Peter so she would not be scared when he came to meet her.

Mr Reeds said: “Having first invented the 19-year-old Pete to make contact with young girls, he now decided to invent Pete’s dad in order to persuade Ashleigh that it was safe for her to get into his car and obviously explain why a much older man was coming to meet her.

“The plan he invented was calculated and wicked and it worked.”

Once he had Ashleigh in his car, he drove her to a deserted lay-by outside of Sedgefield where he bound and gagged her and raped her.

It is believed she suffocated on the gaffer tape gag Chapman had constructed.

Mr Reeds disputed Chapman’s initial claims that Ashleigh’s death was an accident.

He said Chapman would have been only a few inches away from Ashleigh in the car as she was dying of suffocation, and could have removed the gag.

Mr Reeds added: “The prosecution say he could not do so because he had decided by then that he could not afford to let her live.

“Undoubtedly, Ashleigh could have recognised him and she could have told police about his car.”

Chapman was arrested the next day on a minor traffic offence.

He then admitted to police that he had killed Ashleigh.

In mitigation, Andrew Robertson said Chapman had shown some signs of remorse.

When police first interviewed him he was crying with his head in his hands.

Mr Robertson told the court that Chapman said to officers: “I killed someone last night – a girl from Darlington.

“I left the body just outside of Sedgefield at the side of the road. I saw it about an hour before I got arrested. It’s still there. She’s called Ashleigh.

We met on the internet.”

In sentencing him, Judge Peter Fox, the recorder of Middlesbrough, said: “You are, and were at the time, and have been for some considerable time, a very great danger to young women.”

Ashleigh’s death led to a successful campaign by The Northern Echo to have e-safety made a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Speaking after the case, Chief Superintendent Andy Reddick, who led the investigation, said: “The internet is a great thing, but young people who go online can easily fall prey to the scheming, devious tricks of predatory paedophiles and perverts who, sadly, are all too willing to prey on the naive and vulnerable.

“It is a jungle that is full of pitfalls and traps and that is why companies who set up and promote such sites should do everything in their power to protect those who use them.

“Parents, too, should play their part and ensure they know exactly what their children are up to when they are surfing the net.

“Ashleigh made a mistake and paid for it with her life.”