Tragic teen smothered to death, tests reveal

Nov 5 2009 by Beverley Pearson, The Journal

TEENAGER Ashleigh Hall was smothered to death, a second post mortem has revealed.

Ashleigh’s body was found in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, last Monday, almost 24 hours after she left her mother’s Darlington home saying she was going to stay overnight with a friend.

Her devastated mum Andrea Hall said she felt like her “heart had been ripped out” when uniformed officers arrived at the family home in Darlington to tell her that her 17-year-old daughter Ashleigh Hall’s body had been found on Monday evening.

Results of the first post-mortem examination were inconclusive.

A Durham police spokesman said: “Following a second post-mortem we can now reveal Ashleigh’s death was consistent with smothering.”

It is thought the 17-year-old met a man on social networking site Facebook before telling her mum she was staying overnight with a friend.

On Monday lunchtime Andrea became increasingly concerned for her daughter’s welfare and repeatedly rang her mobile phone without getting a reply.

A man was arrested in the evening for motoring offences and took officers to the grim scene, near a Little Chef restaurant, close to the junction of the A689 and A177 roads.

The teenager was studying to become a nursery nurse.

Andrea said: “I brought her up not to talk to strangers and that applied to the internet as well. She said she would never add a stranger as a friend on Facebook.”

Homeless Peter Chapman, 32, appeared before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday last week charged with kidnapping and manslaughter.