This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/13/becky-watts-trial-judge-cries-nathan-matthews-shauna-hoare

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Becky Watts murder trial judge cries as he passes sentence Becky Watts murder trial judge cries as he passes sentence
(35 minutes later)
The judge sentencing the couple who killed Becky Watts cried as he paid tribute to the dignity of the teenager’s family, who were forced to endure a long trial that relived the gruesome details of her murder and dismemberment. A judge broke down in tears as he sentenced the couple who killed the Bristol teenager Becky Watts to a total of half a century in prison and paid tribute to the dignified way her family had acted in the face of horror.
In an unusually emotional sentencing, Mr Justice Dingemans had to stop speaking briefly and compose himself as he ruled that Nathan Matthews, Becky’s stepbrother and murderer, would serve at least 33 years behind bars. Mr Justice Dingemans told Becky’s stepbrother Nathan Matthews that he would serve at least 33 years in jail for the 16-year-old’s sexually-motivated murder, and so would not be eligible for parole until he was 61.
He added that Shauna Hoare, Matthews’ girlfriend, would be imprisoned for 17 years for the manslaughter of Becky, who was suffocated in her bedroom following a violent struggle. The judge sentenced Matthews’s partner, Shauna Hoare, who was found guilty of Becky’s manslaughter, to 17 years behind bars, saying he was sure she had come to share her boyfriend’s fixation with the idea of kidnapping teenage girls.
The judge began to break down as he reached the end of his sentencing remarks. He said: “Finally I should like to pay public tribute to the family of Becky for the dignified way in which they have conducted themselves throughout these proceedings.” Related: Becky Watts's family fear they'll never know what happened to her
His voice trembled as he continued: “Hearing the evidence during the trial has been difficult for anyone but it is plain that it has been an immense burden for the family.” There appeared to be tears in his eyes and he was clearly struggling to get his final words out. He then rose and quickly left the court. Before sentences were handed down, Becky’s parents made highly-charged victim impact statements describing how they were haunted by images of the girl being killed in her own bedroom and the way her body was dismembered and hidden in a garden shed.
Born in 1964, Oxford-educated Dingemans is a presiding judge of the western circuit. As a barrister he has appeared in cases involving constitutional issues, international arbitrations representing developing countries, public inquiries and catastrophic injury cases. In an extraordinary end to the five-week trial, Dingemans, who has two daughters of his own and is the same age as Becky’s father, began to sob as he neared the conclusion of his sentencing remarks.
One of his most high-profile jobs was as QC for the Hutton inquiry, which investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, the biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq. He was chairman of the international committee of the Bar Council from 2009 to 2012 and a member of the executive committee of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association. Dingemans has a son aged 21 and two daughters aged 23 and 18. He said: “Finally I should like to pay public tribute to the family of Becky for the dignified way in which they have conducted themselves throughout these proceedings.”
Reacting to the sentences, the senior investigating officer, DS Mike Courtiour, said: “Nothing will ever fill the void left by Becky’s murder but I hope the sentences passed down today will bring some comfort to her family, and the wider community who have been affected by these horrific events. His voice trembled as he continued: “Hearing the evidence during the trial has been difficult for anyone but it is plain that it has been an immense burden for the family.” There were tears in his eyes and he was clearly struggling to get his final words out. Dingemans, who was counsel for the Hutton inquiry into the “dodgy dossier” on Iraq, rose and swiftly left the court.
“Matthews and Hoare have never shown any remorse for their grotesque actions and today’s sentence reflects their refusal to take full responsibility for their callous crimes. Our thoughts remain with Becky’s families and friends who have suffered unimaginable pain and distress over the past nine months.” Earlier the judge made it clear he was sure Becky’s kidnapping was for a “sexual purpose”, flagging up Matthews’s obsession with pornography. “This was pornography,” he said, “most of which was described by the police as borderline legal, showing petite teenage girls, often having sexual relations with older men, and in one video, having sexual relations by force.”
The prosecution at Bristol crown court said the pair had a sexual fixation with petite girls and had discussed the idea of kidnapping a teenager before they hatched a plan to abduct Becky. He continued: “The evidence proves, and I am sure, that Nathan Matthews had developed a fixation with having sex with petite teenage girls.” It emerged during the sentencing that Hoare was raped when she was 13 as she walked to school in Bristol. The judge said he believed Hoare had been “persuaded to participate” in Matthews’s fixation.
Following the killing the pair took Becky’s body to their own home, dismembered it, packed the remains in plastic and salt and hid them in a garden shed. Dingemans said he was certain that the couple had gone to Becky’s house in Bristol equipped with at least one stun gun, tape and handcuffs to subdue her. He said there were features to the attack that “defy any reasonable explanation”, continuing: “For example there were stab wounds, inflicted after death, on Becky’s stomach, one of which was a very deep and jagged wound. There were wounds around her neck, which might have been inflicted before or after death, apparently inflicted by a screwdriver. Becky’s body had been stripped before being dismembered.”
Dingemans described the crime as “cruel and unusual”. He said Matthews, a 28-year-old former army reservist, was arrogant and controlling. Matthews looked at “borderline legal” pornography almost daily and had discussed kidnapping pretty schoolgirls with Hoare. The judge said Matthews was “fixated” with having sex with teenage girls like Becky. He also drew attention to the behaviour of both Matthews and Hoare in feigning concern as Becky’s family desperately searched for the girl. He said their deceit was “particularly cruel and unusual”.
He said: “I am sure that the planned kidnap of Becky was for a sexual purpose.” He said he was sure they had taken at least one stun gun to subdue Becky and tape to restrain her. Members of Becky’s family and the police said the judge’s reaction showed just how disturbing the case had been.
The judge said that although Becky was a child and her murder was sexual, he did not believe the crime justified a full life term for Matthews. Becky’s cousin Dale West said: “I think it showed the judge feels how we feel. He was hurting as much as we were hurting. I was very surprised to see it but it is something I will never forget.”
It can also be revealed that Hoare, 21, was raped in Bristol on her way to school when she was 13 – before she knew Matthews. The senior investigating officer, Det Supt Mike Courtiour, said: “It was an emotionally charged and emotional trial for everyone involved. The judge was addressing the family and reacted in an entirely understandable way. He’s a human being and not a robot. I think a lot of people have shed tears at different times. It highlights the abhorrent nature of the case and the impact on everyone involved, particularly the family and friends of Becky.”
Describing Becky’s killing by Matthews, 28, and Hoare, 21, as a “despicable act of evil”, Becky’s father, Darren Galsworthy, said in his victim impact statement he still woke up sweating after dreaming of his “small and fragile” daughter being attacked.
He 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.”
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.”
Related: Becky Watts: a shy girl who was growing in confidence
Eight female members of the jury that heard the five-week case returned to Bristol crown court to watch the sentencing. Some 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: “It is like the worst of all horror movies – but this is real.”
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.”
Watts said she still had a chicken in the freezer she meant to cook Becky for a Sunday roast and pocket money in an envelope intended for the teenager. “I can’t believe I’m never going to see her again,” she said.
She said they had got through landmarks such as Mother’s Day and Becky’s birthday but still had to endure Christmas. Watts said the teenager would never have a wedding day. She said: “Becky has been robbed of her future.”