Lodger charged with murder of Lucy, 13
A MAN has been charged with the rape and murder of 13-year-old Lucy McHugh, who was found stabbed to death in woodland.
Stephen-Alan Paul Nicholson, 24, a care worker and tattoo artist of no fixed abode, was charged last night with murder, rape of a child under 13 and two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.
Nicholson, who lived with the schoolgirl and her mother, Stacey White, was arrested by police after Lucy’s body was found in woodland surrounding Southampton Sports Centre on July 26. The father-of-one told police he exchanged Facebook messages with the teenager before she went missing. Officers were forced to apply for an American court order to compel Facebook to hand over his password.
Lucy disappeared from her home at 9am on July 24, and was seen ‘walking with purpose’ towards the Sports Centre, a spot which Hampshire Police believe she was lured to because there was no CCTV. Her body was discovered a mile-and-a-half from her home in woodland overlooking a cricket pitch and athletics track by a dog walker at 7.45am on July 26.
Stacey White described her daughter as ‘a smiling, content little dolly who everyone adored and cherished’.
A Hampshire Police spokesman said one count of sexual activity related to an alleged offence in 2012 involving a 14-year-old girl.
Nicholson will appear before Southampton magistrates this morning.