Convicted sex attacker back in court for possession of indecent images

Latest news in Yorkshire: September 08, 2017 02:51:15 PM

A ‘sick and perverted monster’ who was jailed for over 20 years for a violent sex attack on a Sheffield student was back in court today to be sentenced for possession of extreme pornographic images.

Leo Del Pellegrino, 26, of School Lane, Addlestone, Surrey, was jailed for 22 years for rape back in July after being found guilty of nine counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration.

Del Pellegrino was back in the dock at Sheffield Crown Court today (Thursday 7 September), where he appeared via video link from prison, to be sentenced for a further six counts against him – one relating to possession of extreme pornographic images and five for possession of extreme pornographic videos.

He pleaded guilty to all six counts at an earlier hearing and was jailed for a further 10 and a half years which will run alongside his existing sentence.

The images and videos were discovered after Del Pellegrino was arrested for carrying out a horrific, prolonged sex attack on a student in Sheffield last year, as Detective Constable Leon Hobson, the investigating officer explains.

“Del Pellegrino carried out an appalling attack on a woman he met via an online dating application in November last year, while he was visiting the city for work.

“Within hours of first contacting her, he had engineered a meeting and deceived his way into her home. He then proceeded to subject her to a horrendous ordeal during which he cut her, tied her up, wrote obscene graffiti all over her body, took photographs of her and repeatedly raped her before she managed to escape when he fell asleep.

“Following his arrest, and over the course of our investigation, Del Pellegrino’s electronic devices were seized and analysed by the force’s Hi Tech Crime Unit.”

“What we discovered was that he had searched for internet pornography depicting violent rapes, and had in his possession well over 1,000 indecent images of children and rape pornography. There were also videos depicting rape and necrophilia.

“It soon became clear to us that this depraved individual had sought to act out these despicable and disgusting ‘fantasies’ on an innocent woman. Del Pellegrino is a sick, perverted monster who had clearly taken time to search, gather and store these images.

“I’m pleased that Del Pellegrino is going to be behind bars for a very long time, where he truly belongs and where he can’t pose a danger to any other women.

“What he did and the images he downloaded are absolutely vile and these are truly heinous crimes. We will always take robust action against any reports of this nature, to safeguard any person from coming to harm.”

South Yorkshire Police is committed to protecting vulnerable people and would encourage any victims of sexual crime to report it to police on 101.

Yorkshire Photography

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