The parents of Becky Watts are haunted by nightmares of the moment she was killed by her stepbrother and his partner, and awful images of the teenager in the mortuary, a court has heard.
Describing Becky’s killing by Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare as a “despicable act of evil”, the 16-year-old’s father, Darren Galsworthy, said he still woke up sweating after dreaming of his “small and fragile” daughter being attacked.
Matthews, who was found guilty on Thursday of murdering Becky at her home in Bristol, was sentenced to life in prison. He will serve a minimum of 33 years, the trial judge said. Hoare, who was convicted of manslaughter, was sentenced to 17 years.
Becky’s father said: “When I close my eyes to sleep I see Becky’s death over and over again. I hear her cry and see her terror, and then her realisation they are not going to stop. I feel her heart racing and I am all too powerless to help her. Becky never stood a chance.”
The prosecution at Bristol crown court claimed the pair had a sexual fixation with petite girls and had discussed the idea of kidnapping a teenager before they targeted Becky.
After killing Becky, Matthews and Hoare took her body to their home, dismembered it, packed the remains in plastic and salt and hid them in a garden shed.
Prosecuting, William Mousley QC told the judge, Mr Justice Dingemans, that he had to consider if Matthews ought to be given a full life term, meaning he will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Only eight people have been given such a sentence for single murders, including the notorious child killers Mark Bridger and Roy Whiting.
In a victim impact statement read out before Matthews’ and Hoare’s sentencing, Galsworthy called Becky’s “Bristol’s angel”. He said: “We will never understand why this has happened … This despicable act of evil can never be forgiven or forgotten. When the news came our entire world collapsed.
“I can’t describe the searing pain and anguish Anjie [his wife and Matthews’ mother] and I felt when Becky was found. The only way I can describe it is like being cast off a cliff into despair.”
Galsworthy said both Matthews and Hoare callously sat and watched him descend into madness through the worrying about where his daughter was. He said: “It truly would have been much easier to have taken us all, than have to cope with the aftermath of this crime. Everything beautiful in our lives has been ripped apart with one act of violence.”
Eight female members of the jury that heard the five-week case returned to watch the sentencing, due to take place at 2pm on Friday. Some of them sobbed as the impact statements were read out. In her statement Becky’s mother, Tanya Watts, said every day was a living nightmare. She said: “For some reason that I will never be able to understand, after my daughter was murdered she was mutilated; cut into pieces.
“It is like the worst of all horror movies – but this is real. She was my child. She was only 16. How am I meant to cope with that? It is never ending. I don’t want to remember Becky like this but the thought of her dismemberment is always at the forefront of my mind.”
Watts said Becky had been murdered on her “protective” big brother Danny’s 20th birthday. “How is he ever expected to get over that?” she said. “There is nothing to celebrate anymore.” She said she was furious about what happened to her daughter. “I have so many questions that just go on and on and on,” she added.
Describing the moment she saw her daughter’s body in the mortuary, she said: “The image of Becky there wearing a bandage around her little wrist to cover up the cut marks: that image haunts me. Becky must have been so scared, thinking she was safely resting in her own bedroom, to be attacked like that. Knowing that her last moment was filled with fear and she would have fought for her life, it is just unbearable for us.
“The impact of Becky being taken from us, murdered, dismembered and hidden is massive. I often hear myself talking about Becky and asking questions about her death but it is like I am talking about someone else, not my baby girl. Those people involved in Becky’s murder and dismemberment left us with a lifetime of emptiness, continuing memories of her last moments, nightmares and a grave to visit.”
Members of Becky’s family left the court when barristers for Matthews and Hoare began their mitigation. Adam Vaitilingam QC, for Matthews, argued that his client should not join the likes of serial killers Rose West and Ian Brady, who are serving full life terms. But he said: “There is no mitigation for this appalling crime. There is no atonement for a crime of this nature.”
Andrew Langdon QC, for Hoare, said his client was vulnerable and that she too was a victim of Matthews. During the trial, Hoare said she was physically and mentally abused by her partner, who was obsessed with pornography. The barrister said there was no evidence Hoare received sexual gratification from pornography.
