CHARLIE MARCH, SEX OFFENDER FROM NORWICH, DIES BY HANGING IN PRISON

In May 2020, a dangerous sex offender named Charlie March, 42, residing on Moorgate Road, Dereham, was found dead by hanging within Bure Prison. March had been convicted of a severe sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl in Norwich. The assault took place in a woodland area in West Earlham, and March had admitted to raping the girl. During a sentencing hearing at Norwich Crown Court in 2017, Judge Anthony Bate acknowledged a report indicating that March posed a "high risk of serious harm" to children.

Following his conviction, March was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life. He passed away on Sunday, May 17, while at Bure Prison. An inquest into his death was opened at Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich on Monday, June 1. Area coroner Yvonne Blake stated that the cause of death was hanging. The inquest has been adjourned until April 22 of the following year.

Earlier, in July 2017, Charlie March was sentenced for his crime. A jury at Norwich Crown Court found him to be a "high risk" sex offender after he raped a 15-year-old girl in Norwich woodland. The court was told that March had engaged in conversation with the girl before forcing himself upon her in West Earlham’s woodland area, despite her frantic efforts to stop him. Duncan O’Donnell, the prosecutor, described the incident: “March forced himself on the girl, biting her face, and she tried to push him off while saying 'no.'”

The prosecutor added that the girl was crying during the attack, and at one point, March believed they might be seen by a passerby, prompting him to cover her mouth to silence her. “She was crying. He put his hand over her mouth and told her to be quiet,” O’Donnell explained. The girl managed to escape later but did not report the incident until months afterward. An impact statement from the victim revealed she had undergone counseling and now feels she is "a shadow of the person she was" because of March’s actions, which harmed her emotionally, mentally, and physically.

March, of Moorgate Road, Dereham, admitted to raping the girl. The court noted his previous conviction for an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence. Judge Anthony Bate agreed with a report that highlighted March’s status as a high-risk individual for causing serious harm to children. Furthermore, March was placed under a sexual harm prevention order.

Despite the severity of his crime, the judge acknowledged that March’s guilty plea and some insight into his offending warranted leniency. The court emphasized that March should continue to work within custody to address and reduce his offending tendencies.