A KILLER jailed for murdering a 17-year-old girl in Teesside was arrested for the rape and kidnap of a prostitute in Ellesmere Port in 2002.
Peter Chapman, 33, has been handed a life sentence for the kidnap and murder of Ashleigh Hall, 17, in Teesside.
In 2002 he was arrested by Cheshire police in connection with the kidnap and rape of a prostitute in Ellesmere Port, but was eliminated from their inquiries after DNA tests.
Cheshire Constabulary spokesman Jason Murray said: “Cheshire police arrested Chapman in 2002 on suspicion of rape and abduction of a prostitute in Ellesmere Port. However, forensic investigations eliminated Chapman from investigations and he was not charged.”
Chapman was given a life sentence after luring student Ashleigh Hall to her death via Facebook on October 25 last year. He posed as a teenage boy to trick her into meeting him before killing her and dumping her body in a farmer’s field.
Merseyside Police has referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission after admitting it was aware Chapman was no longer living at his registered sex offender’s address in Kirkby, Merseyside, nine months before the killing. They waited another eight months before declaring him wanted.
Chapman confessed to the killing on Monday – the day his trial was due to begin at Teesside Crown Court.
Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC said he created a Facebook profile and used pictures of a boy in his late teens to lure Ashleigh to him. She went missing on October 25 last year after telling her mum she was going to stay with a friend.
Knowing Ashleigh was expecting to meet a teenager, Chapman posed as the boy’s father to collect her.
