Couple dismember drug user and brag of eating him

A COUPLE killed, decapitated and dismembered a man before one of them boasted of eating him, a court heard.

Benjamin Atkins, 49, bragged to his partner Debbie Pereira, 39, that he had cooked Simon Shotton’s head and “ate his cheeks”, jurors were told.

Shotton, 48, had his limbs sawn off and dumped in a plastic bag, Winchester Crown Court heard. One of his legs was discovered by a passer-by, leading to the launch of a murder hunt.

After Mr Atkins and Ms Pereira were arrested, the court heard, they were covertly recorded in the back of a police van bragging about the killing – with Mr Atkins caught on tape confessing he’d do it “again and again”’.

Paul Calvin KC, opening the trial for the prosecution, said Ms Pereira asked Mr Atkins: “Do you regret anything?” to which he “chillingly” responded: “I’ll look ’em straight in the eye and say, ‘Yeah. I’d do it again and again and again.

“If you another one and do it again. Drug dealers, and pushers. Kill, decapitate, and eat the f----er.’”

Mr Calvin said Shotton was murdered in August last year in Bournemouth, Dorset.

“He was murdered, his body was dismembered and body parts were discovered last summer in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth,” he said. “The facts surrounding this case are grisly.”

He said the first body parts were discovered by Dana Burton, who was working for an events company handing out leaflets on the town’s seafront on Aug 26.

Ms Burton took shelter from the rain under a tree’s overhanging branches, but was startled when a large package landed in front of her with a heavy thud, the prosecutor continued.

“She realised the shape was that of a human foot and some of it had become exposed. Those observations combined with the appalling smell made her realise she ought to report it to the police.”

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.