I need to rage....

[BertrandRussell]

....Just look at THIS!

And this is the fucking BBC!

Wait. WTF did I misread? Near the end of the article...was this guy a care worker?

Wow. Just unbelievable. Raging with you OP. This has to be escalated now, the BBC are misrepresenting court proceedings on their website which is in the public domain. This child was not a Lolita, she is a rape and murder victim. I've been putting off a complaint letter to them now I will be writing one.

Typical BBC.

I don't know, to me the article doesn't give the impression he is telling the truth, it gives the impression he is a liar.

A care worker - but this would never happen. No male predator would get a job with vulnerable people, how ridiculous.

IKR this is exactly the reason people were screaming at NSPCC about. It's really telling BBC left it as a throwaway comment at the bottom of the article. Actual journalists might use this as an example of how important regulation of safe guarding is.

Unfuckingbelivable.

Having been trained in court reporting, I can try to provide some context here. When reporting claims made in court, there can be no editorialising. Reporting has to be a clear and accurate account of that day's proceedings. So it's no surprise to me at all that reporting on the case for the defence presents a one sided account. It has to, legally.

I would like to be clear, though - his "defence" is disgusting and offensive. I can only hope that the weight of evidence against him is such that this story is demonstrated to be as much bullshit as it appears.

(Proper) life sentence I hope.

What would you want the BBC to do though? It’s a court report - they can’t add much or they be in contempt and might prejudice the case. They can just report was said in the court, not comment on it.

Absolutely Seraphinia. It's really unpleasant both to report on and read, but unfortunately you do have to report almost verbatim; no slants, no opinions.

Horrible line of defense though, hopefully that will be mentioned in the judge's summary for if he's found guilty.

Apoarently they have changed some of the wording,

The headline or something said they had been in a Relationship. For a year. She was 13 when she died. That's not a Relationship its child abuse.

Maybe op linked before they changed it

Thanks MenuPlant. That being the case I completely agree with OP