SEX offender Peter Chapman has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of teenager Ashleigh Hall.
Chapman, 33, appeared at Teesside Crown Court today for the first day of his trial — but he admitted every charge against him.
He was accused of murder, kidnap, rape and failing to notify police of a change of address, as required by the sex offenders register.
Murdered ... Ashleigh Hall
Ashleigh, 17, went missing on October 25 last year after going to meet a man she met online.
The night before her body was found she had told her mother she was going to stay with a friend but met Chapman instead.
He had lured the shy teenager to meet him using a fake Facebook profile featuring the picture of a younger man, calling himself Peter Cartwright.
Chapman confessed to the killing after being detained for questioning by cops in Middlesbrough following his arrest over a minor motoring offence.
He led police to the spot where her body lay in a farmer's field nearly 24 hours after she left home for the last time.
In the days after her death her mother Andrea spoke of Ashleigh as her "rock" and called for the return of the death penalty for killers.
Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC, had planned to tell the court today: "Like most teenagers Ashleigh's interests revolved around her friends, her mobile phone and her computer, which she used to chat with friends via social networking sites.
"The defendant's Facebook profile was recovered from Ashleigh's computer.
"The photo is not of him, it is of a bare-chested and good looking boy in his late teens.
"The defendant is a somewhat plainer looking man who could pass for being rather older than his years.
"The prosecution case is that the defendant used this handsome alter ego to entice 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall into meeting him.
"When she met him on 25 October last year, he kidnapped, raped and murdered her."
However, following Chapman's guilty pleas he will be sentenced today rather than face a trial.
According to Ashleigh's friend Gemma Hughes, Ashleigh was interested in boys, but they generally were not interested in her.
Gemma thought Ashleigh suffered low self esteem and if a male did show attention, she would be likely to be flattered by it.
It emerged after his pleas that Chapman has committed a string of previous sex offences.
In 1996 he was accused of raping a girl he had befriended. She became pregnant but the allegations were later dropped.
In December 1996, aged 19, he appeared before Teesside Crown Court accused of attacking two teenage prostitutes.
He had stolen a car, fitted it with false number plates and picked up a 17-year-old street girl in Middlesbrough. He drove her to County Durham and raped her at knifepoint.
Two days later he did the same thing to another prostitute.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison and was released in 2001.
In 2002 he was arrested by Cheshire Police for the rape and kidnap of another prostitute in Ellesmere Port but the case was discontinued.
