Teenage girl was cut up with power saw after 'violent struggle' with step-brother, trial hears

A teenage girl was killed by her step-brother in a "violent struggle" before her body was cut up with a power saw and a knife, a court has heard.

WARNING: Some readers may find the contents of this article upsetting

Becky Watts' dismembered body was discovered at a house 11 days after she vanished from her family home in Bristol.

Jurors were told the 16-year-old was suffocated in her bedroom despite fighting for her life, in a murder thought to have had a sexual motive.

Her step-brother Nathan Matthews, 28, is charged with her murder, alongside his girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, 21.

Matthews told police he wanted to kidnap Becky "to scare her and teach her a lesson because she was selfish and treated his mother badly", Bristol Crown Court heard.

However, when he went to Becky's home the mask he was wearing slipped and she saw him, so Matthews put her in a bag and strangled her, jurors were told.

Matthews has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, as well as conspiracy to kidnap.

Hoare denies murder, conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Four other people have been charged with assisting an offender, two of whom have admitted the offence.

Opening the case, prosecutor William Mousley QC told the court: "She was suffocated, despite her fighting for her life. There followed a deliberate, carefully planned and grotesquely executed plan to cover up her killing.

"Following her removal from her home, over the course of the next few days, her body was cut up with a knife and a power saw, the parts carefully packaged and then moved to another address to prevent them being found and lawfully buried, where they were intended to be stored probably temporarily until a final solution could be found.

"Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare were responsible for her death and that cover-up, assisted by four others.

"Her death was the result of a plan by Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare to kidnap Rebecca Watts.

"In addition to their apparent dislike of Becky, there is good reason to believe there was also a sexual motive behind the scheme, arising from a shared unnatural interest in attractive teenage females, and that a foreseeable conclusion to it being carried out would either be Becky's death or serious injury."

ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn was in court for the trial.

Becky vanished from her family home in Crown Hill, Bristol on February 19 and was reported missing the following day. Her body parts were discovered at a house in Barton Court on March 2.

Becky's alleged killers googled how to hide a dead body the day the teenager was reported missing, jurors were told.

They also heard that Williams bought a circular power saw and drain cleaner from B&Q the day after killing his step-sister.

Mr Mousley said Matthews and Hoare bought rubber gloves, sacks and three rolls of clingfilm from Asda. A number of other items were also purchased to carry out the "lengthy process of the cutting up and careful packaging" of Becky's body, he said.

Jurors heard Karl Demetrius, Jamie Ireland and Matthews transported Becky's body under the cloak of darkness to Karl Demetrius and Jaydene Parsons' home in Barton Court.

The body was placed in the garden shed, where it was later found by police after Matthews made disclosures to detectives.

Donovan Demetrius, 29, and Ireland, 23, deny assisting an offender.

Karl Demetrius, 29, and his girlfriend, Parsons, 23, admit assisting an offender but claim they moved boxes and didn't know what was in them, thinking it was drugs or clothes.

Becky's remains were carefully packaged and covered in clingfilm and concealed within a blue plastic box, two black suitcases and a rucksack, the court heard.

Jurors were told that Becky's torso was wrapped up in a shower curtain inside the plastic box - containing cat litter, which can be used as a decontaminator.

Police also recovered the circular saw, clingfilm, tape, screwdrivers, scissors, gloves and face masks containing Matthews' DNA, a knife, bleach spray, female clothing, an iPhone and laptop from the shed.

The trial continues.