CONVICTED sex offender Peter Chapman, 33, was today sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 35 years after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of teenager Ashleigh Hall.

Chapman, 33, changed his plea to guilty this morning on the day he was due to face trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Ashleigh, 17, from Darlington, was found dead on farmland near Sedgefield after going to meet a man she meet on Facebook.

Chief Superindendent Andy Reddick, Ashleigh Hall's mother, Andrea Hall and grandfather, Mike Hall, talk to the press following sentencing.


The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox passed a life sentence on Chapman and said he would serve at least 35 years imprisonment before being considered for parole.

"For it appears to me that you are, you were at the time, and have been for some considerable time, a very great danger to young women and, for what it is worth, I cannot foresee your release," he said.

Peter Chapman confesses to killing Darlington teenager Ashleigh Hall


"In my judgment, your killing was of such seriousness on its own, and in conjunction with other associated offences, that it falls clearly into the category of being particularly high."

Judge Fox said Chapman had carried out a significant degree of planning and pre-meditation in snaring Ashleigh.

"This was an evil scheme very carefully brought, and with considerable detail, to trap your victim," he told Chapman.

"She was particularly vulnerable because of her age. Before you re-bound her so that she died from suffocation, all that led up must lead to mental and, in raping her, physical suffering."