Sadist jailed for five-hour sex ordeal after luring woman with app
A MAN who subjected a woman he met on a dating app in Sheffield to a five-hour sex attack in order to live out his sadistic rape fantasies has been handed a 17year jail term.
It took jurors just under a day to find Leo Del Pellegrino, 26, guilty of 11 sex offences including nine counts of rape and one count of attempted rape.
The court heard Pellegrino was visiting Sheffield on a business trip.
He had scoured profiles across numerous dating apps in a bid to find a victim to prey upon.
The IT consultant contacted his victim, asked to use her bathroom and then launched a sickening ordeal which lasted for around five hours.
He raped the woman repeatedly, restrained her by tying her hands together, strangled her, slashed her back with a craft knife and wrote obscene graffiti on intimate areas of her body.
He then took photographs of her and threatened to put them on the internet.
The attack ended only when the woman managed to escape from her flat.
At Sheffield Crown Court yesterday, Judge Julian Goose QC sentenced Pellegrino, of Addlestone, Surrey, to 17 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years, imposed due to the ‘serious risk’ of harm he is deemed to pose to members of the public.
Pellegrino was sentenced for 11 counts relating to the sex attack on November 7.
He admitted a further eight offences relating to the use of ex- treme pornography including scenes of rape.
After the case, Claire MacDonald, from the CPS said: “The terror and suffering Del Pellegrino inflicted on his victim is unimaginable.
“He subjected his victim to a violent, prolonged and degrading series of sexual acts, including multiple rapes during which he daubed her with obscene graffiti using a marker pen and sharp implement.
“This man is, without doubt, a very serious danger to women.”
She added that after being found guilty of multiple offences the danger he posed to the public was reflected in the extended sentence and licence period.
“Our thoughts remain with his victim as they have been throughout.”