Step-brother guilty of Becky’s murder

Nathan Matthews has been found guilty of murdering teenager Becky Watts in a botched kidnap which was followed by the dismemberment of her body.

Mathews, 28, went to his step-sister’s home in Crown Hill in February to “teach her a lesson” by kidnapping her. Becky was suffocated in her bedroom and her body was brought to the home of Matthews and his partner Shauna Hoare, 21, where it was cut up with a circular saw and hid in a garden shed.

Hoare has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Both have been found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice and preventing a lawful burial.

James Ireland, 23, and Donovan Demetrius, 29, were acquitted of assisting an offender. Donovan’s brother Karl Demitrius, 29, and his partner Jaydene Parsons, 23, both of Barton Court, have admitted assisting an offender.

The jury of ten women and one man were sent out by the judge on Tuesday morning to deliberate and returned all verdicts in three hours and 27 minutes. Sentencing of the guilty defendants will take place on Friday.

During the four-week trial, Matthews and Hoare were painted as a couple who “shared an unnatural interest” in teenage females and had a “sexually motivated” plan to kidnap the 16-year-old. 

Records of Facebook messages and texts between the two showed how the plan – which included the use of stun guns bought on the internet by Matthews – was hatched.

But Matthews, a former member of the Territorial Army who most recently worked as a takeaway delivery driver, was also shown to be “controlling” over Hoare, who he had previously assaulted.

Matthews maintained throughout the trail that he killed Becky accidentally while trying to scare her for the way she disrespected his mother.

After Becky was killed, police launched a missing persons appeal which ended 12 days later when her body was finally discovered.

The body had been taken back to Matthews’ and Hoare’s home in Cotton Mill Lane, Barton Hill, and was later dismembered into eight pieces.

Matthews enlisted the help of Karl Demitrius and his partner Parson who arranged for the body to be moved into the garden shed of their home 100 metres away in Barton Court.

Following the arrests of Matthews and Hoare, police were led to the home where they discovered the body wrapped in clingfilm and separated into bags.

Police investigator Mike Courtiour said after the verdict that it was “virtually impossible to comprehend this level of depravity”.

“Matthews and Hoare concocted a heinous plan to kidnap his step-sister Becky for reasons they have failed to fully disclose other than she occasionally left items on the floor which could have tripped up Matthews’ mother,” he said.

“The body of evidence however, has suggested a more sinister motive relating to their deep seated hatred for Becky and their twisted sexual desires.”

Becky’s grandfather John Galdsworthy said outside court that the murder was a “nightmare that never ends”. He added: “Finally justice has been done for our beautiful Becky”.

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