Schoolgirl choked to death by man who acted out pornographic film strangle scene
A FARMER’S teenage daughter was choked to death by a man who recreated a strangling scene he had watched on a pornographic DVD.
Hannah Pearson, 16, was plied with alcohol by James Morton – a former Mcdonald’s worker and friend of her boyfriend – before he “guided” her to his bedroom, where he strangled her, a court heard. After Miss Pearson stopped breathing, Morton dialled 999 and the schoolgirl was taken to hospital. She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Morton was jailed for 12 years after he admitted putting Miss Pearson in bed and climbing in alongside her before choking her. He said he had previously tried strangling another partner and was “curious” after “seeing it on a film”. He was cleared of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter after a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court.
The 24-year-old had said the parttime waitress’s death took place accidentally as part of a sex game gone wrong and she had kissed him first.
However, a judge told Morton that Miss Pearson, who had been head captain of her school, was “intoxicated… and in no position to object, trapped underneath you whilst you strangled her”.
Morton said Hannah’s death was an accident, claiming under cross-examination that he had got “carried away” and was “disgusted with himself ”.
Judge Mrs Justice Carr sentenced Morton to 12 years in prison.
She told him: “You enjoyed the domination, something you had seen on a porn DVD and had also tried with at least one previous girlfriend.
“I am sure, as the jury was, that Hannah did not give valid and informed consent to this escalated activity in the knowledge that it carried the risk of some bodily injury. She had never been involved in such activity before, was very intoxicated and, if not totally unconscious, then certainly confused and not thinking straight.”