Becky Watts’s killer found guilty of murder
Warnings over dark web as man obsessed with teenagers is convicted of murdering stepsister
A killer obsessed by teenage pornography murdered his 16-year-old stepsister after watching violent videos, in a case that will reignite calls for tougher internet controls. Nathan Matthews, 28, throttled Becky Watts and cut up her body after watching a violent sex film. Matthews was yesterday found guilty of murder at Bristol Crown Court. His girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, 21, was convicted of manslaughter.
A KILLER obsessed by teenage pornography murdered his 16-year-old stepsister after watching violent videos in a case that will reignite calls for tougher internet controls.
Nathan Matthews, 28, beat and throttled Becky Watts and dismembered her body after watching a film entitled “Virgin teen gets raped in own house”. The 17-minute film was among 236 pornographic images and 21 videos found on his laptop.
Yesterday Matthews was found guilty of murder in a sexually motivated kidnap, and his girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, 21, was convicted of manslaughter.
The case has echoes of a series of internet-inspired attacks by child killers including Mark Bridger, who murdered five-year-old April Jones in Wales in 2012, and Stuart Hazell, who killed Tia Sharp, 12, in south London the same year. In January, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, linked pornography with sexual violence in the case of Jamie Reynolds, who killed 17-year-old Georgia Williams in 2013.
Dr Laura Toogood, an internet safety expert, said it was a “huge worry” that another name could be added to the list, two years after the Government introduced legislation banning violent pornography in England and Wales.
Matthews murdered Becky in her Bristol bedroom before dragging her body into the boot of his Vauxhall Zafira and taking it to the home he shared with Hoare less than two miles away in Cotton Mill Lane.
Over the next three days, Matthews bought an £80 Mac Allister circular saw, goggles, masks, bags, cling film and tape to cut up and package Becky’s body in the bath. Packages containing her remains were stored in suitcases and a box then moved into a shed in Barton Court, 80 yards away, in the early hours of Feb 24 this year.
By that time, Avon and Somerset police were undertaking the force’s largest missing person investigation, which culminated in Becky’s remains being discovered on March 3.
During questioning by police Matthews described himself as an “emotionally unstable, psychologically disturbed, metrosexual Neanderthal”.
Last night, Becky’s father, Darren Galsworthy, said he wished Matthews and Hoare could face the death penalty. “Nathan was so arrogant he thought he could get away with it. That’s probably why he chopped her into small pieces and tried distributing her body parts all over the place. I loved him like he was my own son; I don’t now, I hate him. But at the time I loved him like my own son. Clearly there is something psychologically wrong with the pair of them.
“There is only one way of paying for the sort of crime they have done and that is by losing their own life.”
He later added that Matthews and Hoare could have been “the new Fred and Rose West”. “They were already texting each other messages saying they had found other pretty girls.”
Outside court, Becky’s mother, brother and grandmother said she was a “loyal, loving, smiley, feisty and caring” girl, adding: “Cherish your children, as time with them can be too short.”
Matthews’s interest in extreme pornography stretched back several years. He liked to watch women who “dress up like schoolgirls”, and had been downloading videos since 2009. When asked how often he watched porn, he said: “On average I would say it would be every other day.” Dr Toogood, managing director of the web monitoring service Digitalis Reputation, said: “It is a challenging matter due to the scale of the internet and the volume of content that is available. Technological developments and the increased use of the dark web for illegal activities makes it a very complex landscape.”
In the months leading up to Becky’s murder, Matthews, who had regular fits of rage, swapped text messages with Hoare about kidnapping a schoolgirl and taking her to their attic. One of their exchanges said: “DO IT bitch.”
The couple then hatched their plan to kidnap Becky, buying a stun gun, handcuffs, tape and a large bag. Becky was alone at the home she shared with her father and stepmother on Feb 19 when Matthews and Hoare let themselves in. They suffocated her shortly after her last text to a friend at 11.03am. A post mortem examination found Becky suffered 15 stab wounds and a slash across her stomach after death.
The jury at Bristol Crown Court returned verdicts on six charges against Matthews, Hoare and two men accused of helping to move and hide Becky’s body parts. Hoare, who will be sentenced with Matthews tomorrow, was also convicted of perverting the course of justice and of preventing Becky’s lawful burial by dismembering and hiding her body. James Ireland, 23, and Donovan Demetrius, 30, were both acquitted of assisting an offender.