True Crime Collection

Becky Watts

Rebecca Marie "Becky" Watts was born on 3rd June 1998 and was a British student from Bristol.

Becky Watts was last seen at home in St George, Bristol, on the morning on 19th February 2015 by her step-mother Anjie Galsworthy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, who left the house at around 11:15 for a hospital appointment. Becky was reported missing at around 4pm the following day. Investigators found that her phone, laptop and tablet computer where missing from the house, but she had not taken any money or spare clothes with her and did not tell anyone that she was going away. On 22nd February, Avon and Somerset Police made their first appeal for information about her disappearance, and the following day, her father and grandmother appeared at a press conference appealing for her return. An online campaign using the hashtag "#FindBecky" was launched on social media, reaching more than 2 million people worldwide.

Police searches focused on a number of properties in Barton Hill, Southmead, St George's Park and Troopers Hill nature reserve. In addition, searches were made in nearby open spaces and park areas, as well as house to house inquiries. Searches were also organised by public volunteers in areas including in Wharf Road in Fishponds, Trym Valley and Badock's Wood. Police made a public appeal for information regarding the movements of a black Vauxhall Zafira between 19th and 23rd February.

Initial inquiries focused on the belief that Becky had disappeared after leaving the family home, based on statements given by her step-brother Nathan Matthews and his girlfriend Shauna Hoare, who were at the house at the time. They said they had not seen Becky but "heard the door slam" and assumed she had left. On 28th February, Nathan and Shauna where arrested in connection with Becky's disappearance. On 2nd March, they were re-arrested on suspicion of murder. The following day, Becky's dismembered body was found at a property in Barton Court, Barton Hill. On 4th March, Nathan was charged with murder. On 6th March, four other people who had been arrested were charged with assisting an offender, having been accused of helping hide or dispose of Becky's body. A 23 year old man who had also been arrested was released without charge. On 22nd June, Shauna, who was originally charged with perverting the course of justice, was charged with murder. Nathan and Shauna were also charged with conspiracy to kidnap, preventing the lawful burial of a body and possession of an illegal weapon. The couple were also charged with four unrelated counts of making indecent images of children. Nathan was also charged on unrelated counts of sexual assault and voyeurism.

Becky's funeral took place at St Ambrose Church in Whitehall, Bristol, on 17th April 2015 and was described by her family as "an occasion to celebrate Becky's life". The service was followed by a private interment for her family and friends at Avon View Cemetery.

The murder trial began on 6th October 2015 at Bristol Crown Court. It was the prosecution's case that Becky was suffocated in her bedroom during a "sexually-motivated" kidnap plot carried out by Nathan and Shauna. According to the prosecution, after the killing, Nathan and Shauna put Becky's body into the boot of their car and stayed at the house for several more hours, during which time other family members arrived home. Later that day, they drove back to their own house, where over the next few days they dismembered her body using a knife and a circular saw and put the remains into bags and boxes, which were then hidden in a neighbour's shed. Nathan admitted killing Becky, but denied committing murder. He instead admitted manslaughter, telling the court that he had tried to kidnap his step sister 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. Nathan insisted the killing took place while Shauna was in the garden, and that she was not involved. Shauna, who also denied murder, said she had no knowledge of the murder and had played no part in it, describing text messages she had exchanged with Nathan about kidnapping school girls in the months before as "unfortunate" and "sarcastic". 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".

The prosecution also replied on CCTV evidence of the movements of Nathan and Shauna on the day Becky was last seen alive, and in the days which followed. On 19th February 2015, before going to Crown Hill, they were seen in a Tesco supermarket buying batteries, which were allegedly needed for stun guns which they intended to use in the kidnap. Footage from the day after Becky was killed showed Nathan buying the circular saw that was used to dismember her body, and between 20th and 22nd February, he and Shauna were captured shopping for cleaning products which was said they required to clean the bathroom where the dismemberment took place. DNA linked both Nathan and Shauna to items that were found in the shed alongside the remains, 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.

On 11th November 2015, after 3 hours and 27 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Nathan guilty of murder and Shauna guilty of manslaughter. Both were also convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice, preventing the lawful burial of a body and possession of two stun guns. Two men, James Ireland and Donovan Demetrius, were cleared of assisting an offender, which related to the moving and storing of packages containing Becky's remains. Demetrius's brother Karl and his girlfriend Jaydene Parsons, who owned the shed where the remains were stored, had admitted the same charge at an earlier pre-trial hearing, though both insisted they did not know the true contents of the packages. On 5th February 2016, Karl was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment and Jaydene was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment.

On 13th November 2015, Mr Justice Dingemans sentenced Nathan to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years and Shauna 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 Nathan he had "a fixation with having sex with petite teenage girls" and that he believed Shauna had been "persuaded to participate in this fixation." He added: "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."

In February 2016, a wooden bench was unveiled in Becky's memory, located in Goat's Field, close to her home. The bench, carved by Andy O'Neill, was funded by the Neighbourhood Watch Partnership. A painted mural was also erected in memory of Becky in a park close to where she lived, as well as a lamp that was funded by her former college.

In March 2016, Becky's father, Darren Galsworthy, released a memoir which described 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. It was later re-titled to The Evil Within when released in paperback.

Nathan and Shauna lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences, but on 23rd 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."