Rapist jailed for 35 years over murder of girl he met on Facebook

A convicted sex offender was sentenced today to at least 35 years in jail after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of a teenager he met through Facebook.

Peter Chapman, 33, of no fixed address, received a mandatory life sentence with the minimum tariff at Teesside crown court for the killing of Ashleigh Hall. He changed his plea as he was due to face trial.

The body of the 17-year-old childcare student was found dumped in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, in October. Miss Hall, from Darlington, was strangled and left near a known lovers' lane. Chapman also admitted failing to notify police of a change of address, as required by the sex offenders register.

When Chapman entered the dock, Ashleigh's mother Andrea Hall began to weep and was embraced by friends.

It emerged after his guilty pleas that Chapman had a long history of sex offending. In 1992, aged 15, he was the subject of a sex assault investigation. In 1996, he was jailed for seven years for attacking two teenage prostitutes.

In 2002 he was arrested for the rape and kidnap of a prostitute in Ellesmere Port, but the case was discontinued.