Pornography depicting rape must be banned, campaigners said last night, after a “barbaric” teenager obsessed with sexually violent images raped and bludgeoned his victim on his 17th birthday, leaving her for dead.
Charlie Pearce was caught on CCTV first running towards the victim then away from the scene with part of a paving slab tucked under his arm.
His parents turned him in after they recognised him following a public appeal by police.
A judge yesterday ordered that Pearce, who is still a juvenile, be named following his conviction for attempted murder.
He had already pleaded to two counts of raping her and causing grievous bodily harm with intent as she walked home at night through Victoria Park, in Leicester, on July 3.
Pearce’s victim, who is in her 20s, told the court in a statement: “Before this horrific incident I was an independent young woman. Last July I woke up from a coma not knowing what I had been through.
“I have to live with the violent injuries as well as the physical and psychological impact they have had on me and will continue to have on me.”
She added: “My traumatic head injuries mean that my hair is unlikely to grow again in the places where my skull was fractured. I am reminded of these physical injuries – and others – on a daily basis.
“I don’t know what will happen and how this will affect my academic future and the rest of my life. I cannot be compensated for what has happened to me.”
Campaigners said the case showed it was time for society to grapple with the issue of violent pornography and the way it affected the behaviour of those who used it.
Sarah Green, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “This case is extremely disturbing and the age of the offender should alarm us all. The evidence about his searches for online porn before the attack tell us that we urgently need public discussion about the contents of contemporary online pornography, its accessibility and what is known about the way it influences those who use it.”
In 2013 the then prime minister David Cameron promised to ban pornography involving simulated rape and said that online videos would be subject to the same rules as those sold in sex shops.
It is currently a criminal offence in England and Wales to possess pornographic material which is “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise obscene” and explicitly and realistically depicts life threatening and serious injury.
However that allows for a possible loophole for pornographic material that is obviously scripted and not realistic and campaigners say the vast majority of images depicting rape are lawful to possess.
Jurors took just over three hours to convict Pearce after hearing how he had searched for internet videos depicting the rape of “helpless” women in the weeks leading up to the attack.
A three-day trial at Leicester Crown Court was told Peace left his victim for dead in undergrowth in the park, and she was only found when a passing cyclist spotted a pool of blood and went to investigate.
The jury was told the youth was “fixated” on violent and controlling sex attacks – which he researched on the internet in the days and weeks before carrying out the “unspeakable” assault.
Security cameras at a property nearby showed Peace calmly stepping into a driveway to avoid a police patrol answering a 999 call from witnesses, who heard “thudding” noises as the woman was attacked at about 11.35pm on July 3.
He left his victim in a medically-induced coma for two weeks, after she suffered life-threatening skull fractures and bleeding on the brain.
Pearce, who had been drinking in a pub before the attack, was linked to the attack by “one-in-a-billion” DNA matches after his family contacted the police following a media appeal.
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, said in his closing speech yesterday that the teenager intended to kill the woman.
He said: “He was there loitering, he was looking for someone to attack. He has a fixation with violent rape.
“You’ve seen the internet searches; it’s a disturbing fixation manifested in his interest to look at warped pornography and violent assault of helpless young women.
“An attack of this type had been festering in the back of his mind. He went to attack that woman armed with that weapon.”
Mr Aspden added: “He was ruthless. This dangerous young man, for his own selfish reasons, carried out an attack of desolating wickedness.
“Had he wanted to merely incapacitate and subdue her for sexual purposes, he could have done that.”
A family friend of Pearce’s parents, Louise Davies, a renowned artist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers based in London, said: “This has been extremely upsetting for everyone. Very upsetting, but I really don’t want to talk about it further. I really can’t.”
Detective Chief Inspector Rob Widdowson, who led the investigation, praised the victim, saying: “She has shown a level of courage and fortitude that at times has left me and the many officers who worked on this investigation speechless.”
Pearce denied being the attacker following his arrest and did not give evidence in court.
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