Becky

by Darren Galsworthy

  William explained to the court that, after his arrest, Nathan had told the police that he wanted to kidnap Becky ‘to scare her and teach her a lesson because she was selfish and treated his mother badly’.

  I started to tremble with fury at that point, and I felt Ziggy’s hand on my shoulder as a gentle warning that I had to behave myself. It was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. Becky was just a normal teenager. She was sometimes stroppy, but she wasn’t by any means the worst kid in the world. Even if she had been, why on earth did Nathan think it was his right to ‘teach her a lesson’? His arrogance infuriated me, and I had to take a deep breath to calm down.

  Nathan’s account was that he had taken a large bag, a stun gun, handcuffs and tape to attack Becky. He’d been wearing a mask, but it slipped and she saw him, so he put her in the bag and strangled her. He said that he put Becky’s phone, laptop and some bedding and clothing into the bag and placed it in his car.

  ‘He said that he waited until Shauna had gone to bed before putting the bags in the house,’ William added. ‘He moved the bag containing Becky’s body and put it in the bath. He said that he cut up her body with the circular saw, wrapping up the body parts and carrying them downstairs and hiding them. He stated that Shauna Hoare didn’t know anything about what he had done, because if she had known he believed that she would have called the police.’

  Nathan had made sure to cover his tracks. When the police searched Nathan and Shauna’s house, they noticed that it was a cluttered mess apart from the bathroom, which was spotlessly clean.

  The court heard that although Nathan denied murder and conspiracy to kidnap, he had pleaded guilty to hiding and cutting up Becky’s body, being in possession of two stun guns and preventing her lawful burial. Shauna pleaded not guilty to all five charges she faced – murder, conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial and possessing the stun guns.

  Shauna completely denied any knowledge of or involvement in Becky’s death, but the court later heard that, on the evening Becky was killed, her mobile phone was used to search YouTube for a video called ‘Do You Want to Hide a Body?’ – a parody of ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’ from the Disney film Frozen. To me, that was pretty damning evidence and also shed further light on her twisted mind. Her DNA was found on a facemask, which police discovered in the shed along with Becky’s remains. I stared hard at the floor, trying to keep my anger in check. Surely all that could not be coincidental? It baffled me how she could expect us to believe that she was innocent.

  William told the court that the day after Becky was killed, Nathan purchased two bottles of one-shot drain cleaner before heading to a B&Q store. There, he was captured on CCTV buying a circular power saw, gloves, a facemask and goggles. He had queried the price, as if it was an ordinary purchase. How could he be so calm, knowing what he had done? Did he have no emotions at all? Nathan and Shauna were also captured on CCTV buying black bags, rubble sacks, rubber gloves and three rolls of cling film.

  My stomach churned as the jury were told that Becky was stabbed fifteen times in the abdomen after she died. According to Nathan, he did it to drain her body fluids, something he had seen on CSI on the television. It was sick. They were depraved.

  William continued: ‘The body was dismembered with a circular power saw in eight different locations. Experts said it would have been easier to carry out that exercise if more than one person was involved.’ He glanced up at the dock as he spoke. I hoped Nathan and Shauna were cowering in fear. I hoped they realised that they sounded like the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low.

  He went on to describe how Becky’s remains had been carefully packaged and covered in cling film, plastic bags and tape, and concealed within a blue plastic box, two black suitcases and a rucksack.

  Sarah stifled a huge sob, then suddenly got up and left. I rose to go after her, but Ziggy quickly left the room to console her instead.

  William paused for a moment as he watched Sarah leave. He turned back to the jury, and informed them that two years previously Becky had told a friend that Nathan had described in graphic detail how he planned to kill her.

  I sat bolt upright in my chair. This was news to me. ‘That absolute bastard,’ I muttered under my breath. My heart started thumping hard in my chest when it dawned on me that perhaps Nathan had been planning this for a long time. What hurt the most is that Becky hadn’t felt she could tell me about the dreadful things he was saying to her. If she had, I would have sorted him out. Instead, she had confided in a friend. I wondered who it was. Becky and I were so close, it wasn’t like her to hide anything from me. I wondered how much Nathan had managed to get inside her head. Maybe she’d believed that I couldn’t protect her from him; I remembered her saying one day that I was ‘too old’. Is that something Nathan had told her? The thought was almost too much to bear.

  William concluded the evidence for that day by telling us that Becky was wearing a green jumper and a blue onesie when she was killed. I realised that they were the clothes I’d last seen her alive in when I looked in on her as she lay sleeping, so peaceful and innocent.

  The courtroom began to empty. I felt unsteady as I rose to my feet. I walked out with Sam and my dad beside me, and caught sight of Sarah and Ziggy in the hallway. Sarah’s face was blotchy from crying. She threw her arms around me when she saw me and hugged me hard.

  Hearing that my daughter had been killed in her own bedroom as part of a bungled kidnap attempt by my stepson was devastating. I was left angry, confused and deeply disturbed by the evidence we heard that day. More than anything, Nathan’s motive for the attack – his claim that Becky treated his mother badly – left me bewildered. First of all, it wasn’t true; and secondly, I couldn’t understand why he thought that was enough of a reason to end someone’s life. He was obviously a complete headcase.

  We went for a few drinks afterwards, before heading home to let Anjie know what had been revealed in court. I dreaded telling her that her son had plotted such a sick and disturbing attack on Becky, and that he had used her as his excuse for doing so.

  Predictably, she was left crushed and bewildered by the information. Watching the light in Anjie’s eyes dim after she heard what an evil monster her son had turned out to be was heartbreaking.

  Another sleepless night followed. I tossed and turned as everything I had heard that day came back to haunt me. I prayed that my memories of my daughter wouldn’t be tainted by the knowledge of what he did to her. I tried hard not to think about it, but images of Nathan butchering her swam around my mind. The bath. The powersaw. The blood. It was agonising. All I could do was put my faith in the jury and hope that they would make the right decision. I hoped that they were as sickened and appalled by it as I was.

  At the beginning of the following day’s proceedings, Nathan admitted manslaughter as opposed to murder, and the jury were told that they would need to consider this option throughout the trial. I thought it was a complete joke, of course. It was laughable that Nathan was denying the murder charge when he had already admitted to killing Becky. If what he did to Becky wasn’t murder then I’m not sure what is. Shauna remained adamant that she had nothing to do with the whole thing – something William labelled ‘ridiculous’. I couldn’t have agreed more.

  On day three of the trial, 8 October, Shauna’s mother, Lisa Donovan, gave evidence to say that she hadn’t seen her daughter for four years. They used to live in an annex of her house but then fell out after an argument, and she hadn’t seen them again until they suddenly turned up a few days after Becky went missing. From the witness stand, she explained that Nathan and Shauna visited her and her husband, Shauna’s stepfather, Kevin Stone, on 23 February. They then visited her three more times in quick succession that week. Lisa was so surprised by their visits that she asked them if something was wrong, or if they needed money. She had heard that Becky was missing, and even made a joke about Shauna and Nathan having something to do with her disap
pearance.

  ‘I know why you’re at my house all the time – it’s because you kidnapped her,’ she said, but Shauna had been quick to dismiss it, replying, ‘No.’

  Lisa commented that Nathan seemed very controlling of Shauna, and that Shauna ‘did whatever he wanted’. The couple were later arrested while at her house on 3 March.

  The court was then told that Shauna giggled as she was questioned by police seven days after Becky died. She told them that she had been playing Simpsons Monopoly with Nathan during the evening of the day Becky was murdered. William pointed out that Becky’s body would have either been just yards away in the boot of Nathan’s car, or in the bathroom of their home while they played the game. The thought made me boil over with fury, but I kept my cool. Yelling across the courtroom at Nathan and Shauna would only make things worse. I needed to keep my composure and dignity for Becky.

  Shauna also mentioned during police interviews that she thought Becky was ‘disrespectful’ to Anjie, and that she used her struggle with anorexia to manipulate people. She said it seemed like it was more of an ‘attention thing’ rather than a true eating disorder. She also said that Becky and I argued all the time, and that Becky thought her life would have been much better if she had gone into foster care.

  I was furious – I knew she was lying. While it was true that Becky and I argued, like all fathers and their teenage daughters, I didn’t for one minute believe that Becky had ever said she would have preferred to be in foster care. She knew how hard Anjie and I had fought to get her and Danny out of care, and I know she appreciated it and was, for the most part, happy at home. Shauna was weaving a huge web of lies to distract the police from the role she had played in the murder of my little girl. I shouldn’t have let it get to me, but some of the rubbish that came out of that girl’s mouth really wound me up. I suppose part of the problem was not being able to have it out with her and set her straight on a few things.

  Day six, 12 October, marked the start of the second week of proceedings. It was set to be a gruelling and unforgiving day as the prosecution geared up to present more evidence. We were warned by William beforehand that this would be the day when a forensic pathologist would read out all the horrific injuries Becky had sustained during the attack. We would also learn how her body parts were discovered. Once again, Anjie stayed at home. It was for the best, as we knew we would be learning some truly terrible things.

  I was a bag of nerves before entering the courtroom, but I was determined to hear all the evidence. Sarah sat next to me and we linked arms, steeling ourselves to listen to the gruesome truth about how Becky had been found. I couldn’t stop myself from shaking with nerves. Ziggy and Jo sat behind us, in case we needed them. Once again, Nathan and Shauna were seated at the back of the dock, so it was impossible for me to see their faces.

  Detective Sergeant John Dowding was asked to stand, and he described to the jury how he and another officer searched the shed in Barton Court.

  He spoke carefully as he gave his evidence, remembering every detail.

  ‘The shed was full,’ he said. ‘Just to the right of the door was a blue plastic bag with a rucksack on top of it and a number of suitcases. The officer and I then opened the large case nearest the door and found a number of items inside. They appeared to be parcels of cling film with plastic bags, and the bags had numerous parcels inside.

  ‘I pulled out one of the smaller parcels, about the size of a rugby ball, to see what the item was. I examined the parcel by feeling it; I tried squeezing and manipulating it to see what was inside. It was squashy, but there was something harder within the squashy material. We tried unwrapping the parcel to confirm what the contents were.

  ‘After two to three layers of cling film, it was apparent that it was a right hand, and the fist was clenched and severed at the wrist.’

  My mouth dropped open in horror and Sarah gripped my hand, her nails digging in. She looked pale.

  ‘She fought for her life,’ I whispered, and she nodded, staring straight ahead.

  I struggled to suppress my rage as I pictured my little girl clenching her fists and trying to fend Nathan off. I had taught her how to defend herself in our boxing sessions, but I never imagined she’d have to use those skills against her own stepbrother. She must have been petrified.

  William then called forensic pathologist Dr Deborah Cook to give her evidence. She walked calmly to the stand before explaining to the jury that she had conducted Becky’s post mortem.

  Dr Cook said that she had looked first in a black-and-grey suitcase, which had been removed from the garden shed in Barton Court. She found four parcels inside.

  She briefly looked across at where we were sitting before continuing to describe one particular package. It was as if she was apologising to us for what she was about to say.

  ‘The outside packaging was an Asda carrier bag, inside that was cling film and then inside that was duct tape and further wraps of cling film and thick blue plastic, wrapped in silver duct tape,’ she said carefully. ‘The head was inside that plastic bag, and there was clear tape over the face. The head was covered with damp white crystals.’

  Sarah suddenly stood up and bolted from the courtroom, her hands covering her mouth.

  Here is Sarah’s recollection of that horrendous moment:

  I made sure that I went to every single day of the trial because I wanted to be there for Darren. I wanted justice for my niece and that thought kept me going. But as the days passed, I found it harder and harder to cope with what I was hearing. Like the rest of the family, nothing could have prepared me for what I heard in court that day. I knew Becky had been dismembered, but I had no idea that her head had been taken off her body. I guessed that Darren must have known after seeing her body in the morgue, but I had no idea. The moment the pathologist said that her head was found inside a plastic bag, vomit rose in my throat and I just had to get out of there. I rushed to the door and kicked off my shoes because I knew I needed to get to the toilet fast. As I ran down the corridor, I tried to stop myself throwing up in my hands. Once inside, I hurled myself down on my knees and threw up in the toilet bowl, my body shaking from the shock and disgust at what I had just heard. I started to cry, but it wasn’t an ordinary cry, it was an agonising cry from the pit of my stomach. I probably sounded like a wounded animal. Ziggy followed me in, and I turned and looked at her before retching again.

  ‘Why did they do this to her?’ I screamed, tears running down my face. ‘Why did they do this?’

  ‘I know, Sarah,’ Ziggy replied gently. ‘It’s awful. That’s why we couldn’t tell you some of these things before today. We didn’t want these images to be in your head for all those months. That’s why we had to do it this way.’

  ‘I don’t understand why they needed to do that to her,’ I said weakly, still staring into the bowl. I was too scared to get up in case I needed to be sick again. I curled my legs around the toilet and started to shiver on the cold floor. My stomach cramped up, and I gasped from the pain. My heart was pounding so hard that it hurt with every beat.

  ‘They’ve taken everything from my family,’ I sobbed.

  Ziggy stayed silent. I suppose there wasn’t much she could say. I couldn’t rid myself of the thought of Nathan sitting there, carefully packaging up Becky’s body parts. He had packed them up so meticulously, it was sickening. I couldn’t believe he could just discard someone else’s body like that. I wouldn’t be able to do that to a stranger, let alone somebody I grew up with.

  It took me a while to calm myself down before I could face going back into the court. I knew they were talking about the way Becky’s other body parts had been found, and I wasn’t sure if I could face hearing more of that. But, eventually, I sat up, wiped my face and pulled myself together. A member of the court staff brought me my shoes and Ziggy stayed with me until I was ready.

  ‘Are you sure you want to go back in?’ Ziggy checked as I stood up. ‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’
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  ‘No,’ I said, taking a deep breath. ‘I have to go back. For Darren.’

  When I sat back down, Darren was white with shock. I grabbed his hand and tried to steady myself to hear the rest of what the pathologist had to say.

  While Sarah was out of the courtroom, my eyes were fixed on the jury while the pathologist explained the way Becky had been chopped into pieces and wrapped up, as if she was nothing more than a slab of meat. I wanted to gauge their reaction to the horrific things Dr Cook was telling them. A few looked as if they might be sick, and I knew that they must have been wondering what sort of a person could do something like that. I was certain that if anything was going to convince them that Nathan was a true monster, this was it.

  I always thought I would struggle to contain my rage when I heard all the gory details about how Becky was found, but instead I just felt weak. I was doing everything I could not to bolt out of the room behind Sarah. I had to be there, for Becky.

  Dr Cook took almost an hour to list all the different injuries Becky sustained, including fourteen cuts and bruises to her face, which were consistent with a hand being placed over her face to suffocate her. There were also the fifteen horrifying stab wounds, inflicted after she died. I tried to put myself in a calmer place as Dr Cook described how Becky’s left arm, right hand and right leg had been stored with her head in the suitcase.

  The pathologist said that she then examined the contents of a blue plastic box. She said that underneath several layers of clothes, plastic bags and cling film, she made a harrowing discovery.

  ‘There was a plastic sack saying “It’s my birthday – Wacky Warehouse”,’ she said. ‘Then a white shower curtain, and underneath that, a human torso.’

  I held my head in my hands and I could hear Tanya weeping behind me. It was almost too much to bear. I couldn’t believe they were talking about my beautiful little girl. I shifted in my seat, trying to catch a glimpse of Nathan and Shauna, but there were too many people in the way.