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The Facebook Killer

A cold-hearted Facebook Killer played a cruel trick to lure his victim to her death.

By Jessica LondonPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Peter Cartwright looked like a normal, attractive 19-year-old boy. That’s why, when 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall received an unexpected friend request from him, she accepted. Peter’s profile looked authentic. Not a new profile, with plenty of photographs, comments from friends, a local hometown, Peter Cartwright looked like the real deal.

As so often happens on Facebook, Peter and Ashleigh began chatting.

After a few weeks of casual conversation, Peter Cartwright came across as the kind and funny 17-year-old he claimed to be, and theirs seemed to have the making of a friendship.

Within the month, Peter became very complimentary and he began to express romantic feelings for Ashleigh. Young, innocent, and impressionable, Ashleigh believed the overtures and told friends about how excited she was about the budding romance.

Ashleigh and Peter made plans to meet each other in late October 2009.

When the day arrived, Peter canceled at the last minute and left Ashleigh upset and disappointed.

Peter told her that he’d make it up to her and invited her over for a romantic evening. Trusting this, Ashleigh packed an overnight bag and told her loving Mum that she’d be staying with a friend for the night.

Peter had arranged for his father to collect Ashleigh from her home and bring her to his place, where they’d spend a romantic evening together.

In the car, Peter’s Dad told Ashleigh how excited his son was to finally meet her.

Within the hour, Ashleigh had been assaulted and murdered, heartbreakingly close to her home in the North of England.

Peter Cartwright did not exist.

Peter Chapman did exist.

A 33-year-old predator who’d developed a cunning plan, honed over time.

Born in January 1977, Chapman grew up on Teesside. By the age of just 15, he’d already been identified as a sexual predator after an assault. Later, Chapman raped a girl, although the case didn’t make court — as so many don’t.

By 19 Chapman was sent to prison for having raped two young sex workers at knifepoint.

Back on the street after his seven-year sentence, Chapman kept off the radar, for the most part, preying on victims online.

The date with Ashleigh from a few weeks before, that Peter Cartwright had canceled, had actually been abandoned by Chapman because he knew he needed time to refine his plan. A plan that failed just days before to capture another young girl (aged 15).

The 15-year-old girl had also been courted by Peter Cartwright on Facebook and had gone to meet him for a date. When a much older man, nothing like the FB photographs had shown up, she’d run away.

This frightened child, lured to a date with a predator, was one of many potential victims. Chapman had managed to make contact with 2,981 girls and women aged between 13 and 31. They posted 854 comments on his Facebook page.

Chapman knew he needed a more cunning method.

Chapman wanted to way to trick a young girl into getting into a car with a man she didn’t know.

That’s when he decided to ‘cast’ himself as ‘Peter’s Dad,’ a sly deceit that would trick Ashleigh into getting into his car the night he arrived at her home.

Ashleigh’s body was found in a farmer’s field near Sedgefield. The 17-year-old, beloved daughter, sister, and friend had been assaulted and suffocated to death with duct tape.

Police had been led to the scene by a man that they’d coincidentally arrested the day before due to a warrant relating to a separate police inquiry after a nationwide alert went out to locate his car after he had failed to comply with the requirements of his sex offenders’ registration. From the confines of his cell, he said to the duty officer, “I killed someone last night. I need to tell somebody from CID where the body is.”

Full footage is show here:

Chapman confesses

It’s now known that Chapman had committed lots of sexual offenses and theft throughout his life, and broken the terms of his release as well as the requirements of sex offender registration multiple times.

Clearly, a highly dangerous, repeat offender who should have been under strict surveillance.

Peter Chapman remains incarcerated in HM Frankland, where he will serve his 35-year sentence….hopefully much longer. A man capable of such cunning crimes simply can’t be trusted with his freedom.

In March 2010, Facebook warned children not to meet people from the internet and gave advice on how to stay safe online. They also said they were “deeply saddened” by Ashleigh’s death.

Ashleigh’s mother called for more action and tagging initiatives around such offenders, saying:

“They are the sort of people who should be tagged and they should be kept an eye on all the time. They shouldn’t be allowed out into society anyway.”

Ashleigh’s friends produced Ashleigh’s Rules, aimed at helping other youngsters stay safe online:

Please share this as widely as you can.

Ashleigh was very loved by her family, and popular with friends. As the oldest of four, she’d been a wonderful support to her single-mother Andrea. The victim of a devious man, who used an unthinkable trick to lure Ashleigh away from the safety of a loving home, Ashleigh is remembered by all who knew her and many who did not.

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About the Creator

Jessica London

Lover of tea. Mother of two. Reader, writer & feminist. Interested in the wine, not the label. Former Tech CEO. Aspiring Crime Fiction author & MA student.

Writing passions include True Crime, Feminism, Social Commentary, Books & Wellbeing.

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