Murder of Becky Watts

Rebecca Marie "Becky" Watts (3 June 1998 – 19 February 2015) was a 16-year-old student from Crown Hill in the St. George area of Bristol, England, who went missing on 19 February 2015 and whose dismembered body was found on 3 March in Barton Court, also in Bristol.^[1]

In November 2015, her step-brother Nathan Matthews, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 33 years. His girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, was found guilty of her manslaughter and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Both were also convicted of conspiracy to kidnap Watts, preventing a lawful burial by dismembering and hiding her body, perverting the course of justice, and possession of two stun guns.^[2][3]

Disappearance and investigation

Becky Watts, who lived with her father and step-mother at an address in Crown Hill, Bristol, went missing on 19 February 2015. She had stayed at a friend's house the previous night and returned home, apparently then leaving the house again afterwards.^[4] Her step-mother, Anjie Galsworthy, told police she last saw her at around 11:15 that morning before leaving for a hospital appointment.^[5] Initial reports suggested she had taken her phone, laptop and tablet computer with her, but no extra clothes or money, and did not tell friends or family where she was going.^[4][6] Her disappearance was described as "out of character".^[7]

She was reported missing by her family on 20 February, at around 4pm.^[4] Two days later, Avon and Somerset Police made their first appeal for information into her disappearance.^[5] The following day, her father Darren Galsworthy, and grandmother, Pat Watts, held a press conference appealing for her "to come home".^[5] An online campaign using the hashtag "#FindBecky" was launched on social media, reaching more than two million people worldwide.^[5]

Police activities focused on a number of properties in the Barton Hill area of Bristol and in Southmead, as well as a lake in St. George Park and Troopers Hill nature reserve.^[8] In addition, searches were made in nearby open spaces and park areas, as well as house to house inquiries.^[7] Searches were also organised by public volunteers including in Wharf Road in Fishponds, Trym Valley and Badock's Wood.^[5][9] Police put out a public appeal for information regarding the movements of a black Vauxhall Zafira between the dates of 19 and 23 February.^[4]

Initial inquiries focused on the belief that Watts had left the family home on the 19 February.^[4] However, at the trial this was revealed to be false information given by Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare. During the investigation, after police learned they had been at the house in Crown Hill around the time of her disappearance, both Matthews and Hoare gave witness statements telling officers that they had not seen Watts that day but "heard the door slam" and assumed she had left.^[10]

Arrests

On 28 February 2015, it was announced that a 28-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of kidnap.^[6] Two days later, the pair were re-arrested on suspicion of murder.^[11] On 3 March, Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that after receiving "new information", body parts believed to be those of Becky Watts had been discovered, in a house at Barton Court in the Barton Hill area of Bristol.^[1][12] A further five people were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.^[1]

On 4 March, Watts' step-brother, Nathan Matthews, was charged with her murder.^[13] On 6 March, four other people were charged with assisting an offender, having been accused of helping to hide or dispose of her body. A fifth person, a 23-year-old man who was also arrested on 2 March, was released without charge.^[14] On 22 June, Matthews' girlfriend, 21-year-old Shauna Hoare, who was originally charged with perverting the course of justice, was also charged with murder. Matthews and Hoare were also charged with conspiracy to kidnap, preventing lawful burial and possession of an illegal weapon. The pair were also charged with four counts of making indecent images of children, although these were unrelated to the murder. Matthews was also charged on unrelated counts of sexual assault and voyeurism.^[15]

Trial and verdicts

The murder trial began on 6 October 2015 at Bristol Crown Court. It was the prosecution's case that Watts was suffocated in her bedroom on 19 February 2015 during an alleged "sexually-motivated" kidnap plot carried out by Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare.^[16] According to the prosecution, after the killing, Matthews and Hoare put her body into the boot of their car and remained at the Crown Hill address for several more hours, during which time other family members arrived home. Later that day, they drove back to their own house, where they spent the days after dismembering her body using a knife and a circular saw, and "carefully packaged" the body parts into bags and boxes before arranging it to be stored in a neighbour's shed.^[17][18]

Matthews admitted killing Watts, but denied committing murder. He instead claimed manslaughter, telling the court that he had tried to kidnap Watts as a way of scaring her into changing what he perceived as her bad behaviour, but the plan went wrong and he accidentally killed her.^[19] Matthews insisted he acted alone throughout the killing and subsequent dismemberment, and that Hoare was not involved.^[20] Hoare, who also denied murder, said she had no knowledge of or involvement in Watts' death, describing text messages she had exchanged with Matthews about kidnapping schoolgirls in the months before as "unfortunate" and "sarcastic".^[21]

The prosecution claimed that the text messages between the two, as well as other content found at their home, suggested "a shared unnatural interest in attractive teenage females".^[18] The prosecution also relied on CCTV evidence of the movements of Matthews and Hoare on the day of Watts' death and in the subsequent days. On the morning of the 19 February, they were seen in a Tesco supermarket buying batteries, which were allegedly needed for stun guns which they intended to use in the kidnap.^[18] CCTV footage from the day after Watts was killed showed Matthews buying the circular saw that was used to dismember her body, and between the 20 and 22 February, he and Hoare were captured shopping for cleaning products which was said they required to clean the bathroom where the dismemberment took place.^[20] DNA linked both Matthews and Hoare to items that were found in the shed alongside Watts' body parts,^[22] and an expert was called to give evidence who said it would be "easier" to carry out the dismemberment if more than one person was involved.^[23]

On 11 November 2015, after three hours and 27 minutes of deliberations, the jury found Matthews guilty of murder and Hoare guilty of manslaughter. Both were also convicted of conspiracy to kidnap Watts, perverting the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial by dismembering and hiding her body, and possession of two stun guns.^[3] Two men, James Ireland and Donovan Demetrius, were cleared of assisting an offender, which related to the moving and storing of packages containing Watts' body parts. Donovan's brother Karl Demetrius and his girlfriend Jaydene Parsons had admitted the same charge at an earlier pre-trial hearing, though both insisted they did not know the true contents of the packages.^[24]

Sentencing

On 13 November 2015, Mr Justice Dingemans sentenced Matthews to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years and Hoare to 17 years in prison. In his sentencing remarks, the judge agreed with the prosecution's belief that the planned kidnap was for a "sexual purpose", telling Matthews he had "a fixation with having sex with petite teenage girls" and that he believed Hoare had been "persuaded to participate in this fixation."^[2]

The judge began to sob as he neared the conclusion of his sentencing remarks. He said: "Finally I should like to pay public tribute to the family of Becky for the dignified way in which they have conducted themselves throughout these proceedings" and then continued: "Hearing the evidence during the trial has been difficult for anyone but it is plain that it has been an immense burden for the family." There were tears in his eyes and he left the court quickly.^[25]

On 5 February 2016, Demetrius and Parsons were sentenced after admitting assisting an offender. Demetrius was jailed for two years, while Parsons was jailed for 16 months.^[26]

Both Matthews and Hoare tried to appeal against their convictions and sentences, however on 23 June 2016, the Court of Appeal rejected their applications, saying that there was "no reasonable argument that the convictions are unsafe or that the sentences were wrong in principle or manifestly excessive."^[27]

Post-trial events

After the trial Watts' father, Darren Galsworthy, released a memoir which discussed his daughter's life, her murder and the subsequent criminal trial of those responsible. Entitled Becky: The Heartbreaking Story of Becky Watts, the book was published by Harper Collins in March 2016.^[28]

In February 2016 a wooden bench was unveiled in her memory, located at Goat's Field close to her home in Bristol. The bench, carved by Andy O'Neill, was funded by the Neighbourhood Watch Partnership.^[29]

A painted mural was also erected in a Bristol park in memory of Watts. However, this was vandalised in November 2016 in an attack which was recorded by CCTV. It was also revealed that the health of her step-mother Anjie, a long-term multiple sclerosis sufferer, had deteriorated during the previous 12 months.^[30]

References