The woman accused of murdering Bristol teenager Becky Watts and dismembering her body admitted she knew her partner had been using a power saw in their bathroom – but insisted she did not know what he was doing.
Nathan Matthews, 28, and Shauna Hoare, 21, are charged with murdering 16-year-old Becky before dismembering her body with a power tool and hiding the remains in a garden shed.
Matthews has conceded that he killed Becky and concealed her remains after cutting up her body but both he and Hoare have denied she had any knowledge of what he was up to.
Hoare told police that the day after Becky died that Matthews warned her to steer clear of the bathroom because the toilet was blocked – and she then heard the sound of a power tool.
“He was using some sort of power tool for 10 to 15 minutes,” she added. “I just thought he was fitting pipe to fix the toilet.”
Bristol crown court heard that Hoare told police that she would not have stayed in the house with Matthews had she known what he had done.
She said: “I wouldn’t stay in that house knowing what he had done. I was always slightly scared of him. I didn’t know him at all. I thought I knew who he was, what he would do and what he wouldn’t do. Turns out I didn’t know him at all. I slept next to him. It makes me feel kind of sick.”
Hoare also told the police that Matthews had been violent to her during their six-year relationship. He had once held her round the throat and on another occasion pushed her against the front door, causing a bruise to her back, she claimed.
Jurors heard Hoare describe an incident where she claimed Matthews scratched himself in the face with a kitchen fork during an argument. “He had a fork and started stabbing himself and was a complete psycho,” she said.
Matthews told detectives after his arrest that he had kept Hoare in the dark over what had happened.
On 4 March, the day after Becky’s remains were found hidden in the shed, Matthews stated that if Hoare’s DNA or fingerprints were found on anything to do with the dismembering of Becky’s body there would be an “entirely innocent” explanation. Matthews also insisted that Hoare would not have heard the attack on Becky at her home in St George, Bristol, on 19 February.
In a prepared statement he said: “If Shauna’s fingerprints or DNA are on any of the things I used when dealing with the body it will be entirely innocent … I do not believe Shauna could have heard any of the struggle between me and Rebecca Watts at 18 Crown Hill. At all times I kept the body hidden from Shauna.”
The jury at Bristol crown court watched an interview filmed by police with Matthews on 3 March. He frequently held his head in his hands and sobbed as he told detectives he had hatched a plan to kidnap Becky to scare her into becoming “more appreciative” of life and other people. He said he did not like the way Becky treated his mother, Anjie Galsworthy.
Describing his plot, Matthews said: “Obviously I would put her in the suitcase, obviously put tape round her mouth so she couldn’t make a noise then once I got her in the car I would say something to Shauna that I had to go out for some reason, I’d make up an excuse.
“I was thinking of a wooded area but obviously take her back out, obviously still have the mask on and obviously scare her and say something along the lines: ‘Start treating people better and not being a bitch and self-centred’, and say, ‘or it will get worse’. Obviously I hadn’t figured out exactly how to walk away after. I wanted to find a way to make her listen.”
Matthews has said he was wearing a mask as he carried out his kidnap plan. He claims it slipped and he panicked and strangled her.
Matthews admits manslaughter and dismembering Becky’s body but has denied plotting to kidnap Becky and murder. Hoare denies plotting to kidnap Becky, murdering her or any involvement in the aftermath.
The trial continues.
