The family of the Bristol teenager Becky Watts have expressed horror at the brutality of her murder after body parts were found at a house almost two weeks after she vanished.
Police were given more time on Tuesday to question a 28-year-old man and 21-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder.
Detectives are trying to establish any links between the pair and five people – four men and a woman – who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender after the body parts were discovered on Tuesday morning.
In a statement released by police, Becky’s father Darren and stepmother Anjie Galsworthy said: “To receive such news about our dear daughter and step-daughter Becky is too much to bear. We have the support of a good family network to help us in these challenging times.
“We would ask that you treat Becky with the due reverence and allow us to come to terms with our grief in private.”
Becky’s mother Tania, grandmother Pat, and brother Daniel said in another statement: “We are devastated to be told of this latest development. We are at an utter loss to understand why anyone would want to hurt our beautiful Becky in such a brutal way.
“We are grateful to the police for all they have done and are continuing to do in this investigation. Whilst there are people in custody, none of whom are connected to the Watts family, we will not be making any further comment and we ask that our privacy is respected at this horrific time.”
Police searches have been spread across several sites in the city since Becky vanished from her home in St George, to the east of the city centre, on 19 February. On Tuesday they were focused more narrowly on Barton Court, a cul-de-sac of modern red-brick homes.
Barton Court, Bristol, where the remains of 16 yr old Becky Watts have been found. pic.twitter.com/hQTzmALHvz
— steven morris (@stevenmorris20) March 3, 2015
DS Mike Courtiour, of Avon and Somerset police, said overnight on Monday police had received information that Becky’s body had been “cut up” and a search of the property in the Barton Hill area of the city revealed the parts.
The Barton Court address is two miles from Becky’s home and about 100m from her 17-year-old boyfriend’s home in Cotton Mill Lane. One line police are looking at is that she was going to see him on the day she vanished. An address that police have been focusing on is on the other side of the street to her boyfriend’s.
Forensic tents have been set up outside both addresses, where police seized wheelie bins and food recycling containers.
A third address that detectives have been probing is five miles away in the Southmead area of Bristol. Neighbours there reported seeing police seize a black Vauxhall Zafira car. Detectives have been appealing for sightings of such a car. The Google Maps street view image of Barton Court shows a Zafira parked there.
Police were given extra time to question the pair arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder. They will have to be released or charged on Wednesday.
Becky murder - police seizing the bins from the area where body parts have been found. http://t.co/3B99O4d1cU
— steven morris (@stevenmorris20) March 3, 2015
It is understood that the police are working with officials from the Crown Prosecution Service, a common practice in major incidents. Officers are working through hours of CCTV footage to try to find images of Becky after she vanished and to try to track the movements of the black Zafira.
Floral tributes have begun to build close to the house at Barton Court. One simply read: “RIP Becky Watts.” Another said: “Becky, you will be sadly missed but never forgotten.”
