| Tia Rigg tortured and murdered by uncle obsessed with child porn John Maden jailed for life after admitting to sexual abuse, stabbing and strangling of 12-year-old nieceA man obsessed with violent child porn and "snuff" videos was today jailed for life for the torture, rape and murder of his 12-year-old niece.Unemployed John Maden lured Tia Rigg to his home on the pretext of babysitting, but he drugged her and acted out his fantasies on the unsuspecting youngster, inflicting a horrific catalogue of sexual injuries before stabbing her and strangling her with a guitar wire.Passing sentence, Mr Justice Keith said that in his case the mandatory life sentence for murder must mean just that – and he will never be released.The judge said: "It is inescapable that Tia Rigg died because you decided to realise your fantasies about torturing and killing a young child."The fact that you chose your 12-year-old niece, who had put her trust in you, makes what you did all the more unspeakable, as was the fact that all of this was planned by you and you lured her into your home by pretending you wanted her to babysit for you."It is difficult to know how long Tia's ordeal lasted."The terror, the unimaginable pain you inflicted on her, the indignities you subjected her to … while still alive."This was an horrific crime in which a young girl who had everything to live for and placed her trust in you was inveigled into your lair. It was planned, it was premeditated and her agony must have been prolonged."This is one of those exceptional cases in which the only just punishment requires you to be imprisoned for the rest of your life."Maden, the brother of Tia's mother, Lynne Rigg, was due to go on trial at Manchester crown court for murder today but pleaded guilty instead. He carried out the attack on the afternoon of 3 April this year at his home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. He then called police, appearing "chillingly calm" when he answered the door to officers.Maden had become obsessed with violent porn he downloaded from the internet, the court heard.Members of Tia's family sat in the public gallery, yards from Maden in the dock as Gordon Cole QC, prosecuting, opened the case. "In general terms this murder was premeditated," he said. "It was murder purely for his sexual gratification – it had a sexual motive. The facts reveal clearly features of torture, rape, physical abuse and the ultimate murder of a child."In the year or so prior to April this year, the defendant had developed what can properly be described as an obsessive interest in images and literature relating to paedophilia, rape and torture. He had an extensive library of such materials which included literature dealing with methods of killing."Cole continued: "This material and the subsequent discovery of Tia reveals that this defendant was acting out a long-held fascination with rape, torture and abuse of children."Crimeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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