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'Teen was killed, body dismembered by stepbrother, partner'

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Press Trust of India London
A British teenager was murdered in a sexually motivated attack by her stepbrother and his partner, who cut up her body with a knife and power saw and then tried to cover up their "grotesquely executed plan", a court was told today.

16-year-old Becky Watts disappeared from her family home in Crown Hill, Bristol in February. Her body parts were found in a garden shed several days later.

Becky's stepbrother, Nathan Matthews, 28, and Shauna Hoare, 21, are accused of conspiring to kidnap, and murdering, the her. They deny the charges.

The pair shared an "unnatural interest in attractive teenage females", a jury at Bristol Crown Court has heard.
 

The trial was told Matthews admitted killing her, stating he tried to kidnap and imprison her. He then later strangled her and told the court he acted alone.

Opening the case, prosecutor William Mousley told the jury that Becky was killed in her bedroom.

"She was suffocated, despite her fighting for her life. There followed a deliberate, carefully planned and grotesquely executed plan to cover up her killing," he said.

Becky vanished on February 19 and was reported missing the following day. After a huge police search, her body parts were discovered in a garden shed at a house in Barton Hill, Bristol, on March 2.

Mousley told the jury the day after Becky's death Matthews bought bottles of drain cleaner and a circular power saw, gloves, a face mask and goggles.

Another couple, who stored the dismembered body in their garden shed, have pleaded guilty to assisting an offender, the BBC reported.

Karl Demetrius, 29, and his girlfriend, Jaydene Parsons, 23, admitted the charge at an earlier hearing at Bristol Crown Court.

However, they told the court they "did not know or believe" the bags contained Becky's body.

Donovan Demetrius, 29 - Karl's twin brother - and James Ireland, 23, are also charged with assisting an offender.

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First Published: Oct 07 2015 | 8:42 PM IST

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