A CONVICTED murderer was yesterday convicted of the 1980s kidnap and rape of a teenage girl – seven years before he killed a hitchhiker.
Ronald Cheshire, originally from Henley, admitted the rape, kidnap and false imprisonment of the 15-year-old in May 1980 after a police cold case review found his DNA on her underwear.
He went on to murder and rape 17-year-old Rachel Partridge in 1987. She had hitched a lift back to her home at Shaw’s Field Farm, Chinnor Hill, in order to avoid paying a taxi fare. Cheshire was jailed over the killing in 1989.
Yesterday, prosecutor Simon Heptonstall told Reading Crown Court the 1980 attack was probably ‘a rehearsal’ for murder. The policeman’s son, now 52, kidnapped the teenager as she walked in the dark with a friend, also 15, and then drove her to a partially-built housing estate before raping her in his van.
Cheshire, then 22, asked the girl ‘are you a virgin?’. When she said ‘yes’ he responded ‘good’ and raped her. He will be considered for parole in three years’ time.
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