it strikes me they are going for the 'inexperienced oaf' who panicked...
I hope they don't try that as another mitigating circumstance. God knows they're trying everything they can find, from discrediting the victim (was she drunk? did she lead him on? did she open the door? why did she stay behind when her boyfriend visited with family?), the perp's lovely character, the appalling betrayal by the Sally Army bloke, the remorse - but, excuse me. How inexperienced can a thirty-something be to take a "Would you like a drink?" and "My boyfriend's away this weekend" as an invitation to touch/kiss/have sex/who knows what else with a neighbour he doesn't even know all that well??? How innocent and oafish can someone his age be to think that he can try it on with someone who's practically a stranger, within ten minutes? It's not a teenager or someone who's not all there we're talking about. And, don't let me forget, the man is supposed to have been in a stable relationship with someone he talked marriage and children with, and that someone had only gone away to a party for a couple of hours that night. Inexperience and lovely character indeed.
Yeah fine - they should judge him for what he did, as QC said: which includes the 40-odd injuries she had, which can't all have been from the few seconds he had his hands around her neck; coming on to her, and not taking 'no' as a 'no'; putting the victim's family through hell while they searched for her. And, oh, since I'm going against any mitigating nonsense, his immediate willingness to cheat on his own girlfriend. I can't help thinking I'd have more respect, and, yes, pity for him if he'd called an ambulance or the police afterwards instead of trying for a perfect crime and pretending everything was normal. I could believe it was all a tragic mistake, perhaps. Judge him for what he did, but don't discount three quarters of it, and don't try to interpret every little thing as a mitigating circumstance."Lovely V.", indeed. I really don't like this guy.
Had he managed to hoist his victim up over that wall, her parents & co. would still be making appeals, hoping against hope that somebody will come forward.