Thu, 23 Aug 2018
No5 barrister Andrew Wallace prosecuted in a case which saw a rapist jailed for 22 years after holding a 10-year-old child captive in a ‘torture den’ attic.
Married David Challenor, 50, of Charterhouse Road, Coventry, subjected the child to a catalogue of abuse, which included tying her from a beam, whipping her and giving her electric shocks.
The jury at Warwick Crown Court heard how Challenor would dress up as a small girl in adult-sized baby dresses and nappies before carrying out the attacks at his home. He also took photographs of the abuse carried out on the victim.
The offences came to light after the child confided in someone towards the end of 2015.
However, Challenor claimed the victim was a liar and a fantasist and pleaded not guilty to charges including false imprisonment, rape, gross indecency, assault by penetration, indecent assault and assault causing bodily harm.
Challenor also denied taking indecent images of her, making indecent images of children by downloading them, and possessing prohibited images.
However, officers found the attic at his home equipped exactly as the child had described, which Mr Wallace said "demonstrated she had not made it up”.
In addition, indecent images were found on a memory card in a digital camera, including some of the child, which Challenor denied being responsible for taking.
After an 11-day trial, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for all but one of the charges of taking indecent images.
Challenor was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the offences against the child, with a consecutive three-year term for the images, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
Instead of automatically being released after serving half of his sentence, it will be a matter for the Parole Board to decide whether he is freed at that stage.
For more information about this case, visit https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/sick-pervert-abused-10-year-15060652
Andrew Wallace is a member of the Crime group at No5 Barrister’s Chambers. To view his profile, visit https://www.no5.com/barristers/barrister-details/193-andrew-wallace/
