Rapist grins as he is jailed for life for horrendous attack in Leicester park

A teenager who brutally raped a young woman and tried to bludgeon her to death with a paving slab to mark his 17th birthday was led grinning from the dock as he was jailed for life.

Charlie Pearce has become obsessed with violent internet pornography before he hunted down his victim as she walked home through Victoria Park in Leicester city centre.

He stole her handbag as a trophy and left her for dead in the bushes with severe injuries including a fractured skull.

The victim was discovered in the undergrowth an hour later by a passing cyclist and spent two weeks in hospital in a medically-induced coma.

Pearce was turned in to police two days later by his own parents after they saw CCTV footage of the rapist.

He sat handcuffed in the dock of the Old Bailey flanked by five dock officers as his victim stood up in the well of court to describe how she was left both physically and mentally scarred by the attack.

She said: ‘I am reminded on a daily basis of the extensive trauma my body has endured and that my brain cannot remember happening to me.

‘This disconcerting disconnection between my body and my mind sits alongside jaw pain and bald patches on the scalp where hair will never grow again – damage done to me by a complete stranger when I was walking home.

‘I am also mentally scarred. I have thoughts about hurting myself and ending my life because I feel as though I cannot live with what happened to me.

‘My life and my ambition to have an academic career have been put on hold by Charlie Pearce’s criminal actions.

‘No part of my life stands untouched by the attack I have survived.’

Mr Justice Charles Haddon-Cave paid tribute to her bravery and ‘intellectual resilience’ as he sentenced Pearce to detention for life with a minimum of 11 years before parole.

The judge said: ‘There is no doubt in my mind he is an exceptionally dangerous young man.

‘He set out that evening to mark his 17th birthday to find a woman to violently attack and rape,

‘He can be seen on CCTV hunting her down as she walked in the park. The attack itself was of animalistic savagery.

‘He then left her for dead before stealing her bag, no doubt as a sexual trophy.

‘In previous weeks he had been sexually aroused by watching violent pornography involving women.’

Pearce grinned at the press box as he was led out of court with his hands cuffed to a dock officer.

The judge commended the cyclist Sarah Scheffler and the medic who first attended the scene.

Pearce had spent the weeks before the attack on 3 July last year watching violent online pornography featuring the rape of helpless women.

The victim, in her 20s, was walking through the park at 11.30pm when he struck her over the head with a concrete slab and dragged her into the bushes.

Three youths witnessed the start of the attack and called police but officers were unable to find anything.

The victim was found at 12.30am after Sarah Scheffler spotted a pool of blood and a hair clip on the path and heard rustling in the undergrowth.

She bravely went to investigate found the victim lying severely injured and covered in blood and did her best to comfort her, the court heard.

Pearce tried to escape justice by disposing of his blood-soaked clothes and setting fire to her handbag which he had stolen.

But Pearce was linked to the attack by ‘billion-to-one’ DNA matches following his arrest on 5 July.

Pearce, of West Avenue, Clarendon Park, Leicester admitted two counts of rape, causing grievous bodily harm and theft of the victim’s handbag.

He was found guilty of attempted murder.

ENDS