Nathan Matthews to be sentenced for Becky Watts' murder in Bristol

The stepbrother of schoolgirl Becky Watts will be sentenced tomorrow after he was found guilty of murdering her during a sexually-motivated kidnap.

Nathan Matthews’s girlfriend Shauna Hoare was cleared of her murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

Matthews, 28, suffocated his 16-year-old stepsister while trying to kidnap her from her semi-detached home in Crown Hill, Bristol, on February 19.

He dragged her body into the boot of his car and drove it to the home he shared with girlfriend Hoare, 21, less than two miles away.

Over the next three days, Matthews bought a circular saw, goggles, masks, bags, cling film and tape to cut up and package Becky’s body in the bathroom.

Becky Watts' cousin describes her murderer as "beyond human - to me, he's an animal" https://t.co/Akw9oFoYv1 https://t.co/Zm07piTFs6

— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 11, 2015

Packages containing eight body parts were stored in suitcases and a box then moved into a shed just 80 metres away in the early hours of February 24.

By that time police had launched the force’s largest missing person’s investigation, which culminated in Becky’s remains being discovered on March 3.

A jury of 10 women and one man at Bristol Crown Court returned verdicts after just three hours and 27 minutes of deliberations on six charges against Matthews, Hoare, and two men accused of helping to move and hide Becky’s body parts.

Matthews was found guilty of Becky’s murder, while Hoare was acquitted of the charge but convicted of her manslaughter.

Both were found guilty of plotting together to kidnap 5ft 1ins Becky in a sexually motivated plot fuelled by a shared desire for petite teenage girls.

Hoare was also convicted of perverting the course of justice and preventing Becky’s lawful burial by dismembering and hiding her body.

James Ireland, 23, and Donovan Demetrius, 30, were both acquitted of assisting an offender.

Friends and family of the popular teenager, including best friend Courtney Bicker, grandfather John Galsworthy, uncle Sam Galsworthy, brother Daniel Watts, stepmother Anjie, Matthews’s mother, father Darren Galsworthy and aunt Sarah Broom, sat in the public gallery wearing blue ribbons

When the jury forewoman stood up to deliver the verdicts, the atmosphere was tense with anticipation.

As the first verdict was returned - that Matthews kidnapped his stepsister with Hoare - people in the upstairs public gallery began clapping and shouting “Yes”.

Mr and Mrs Galsworthy sobbed and clutched other members of the family.

Matthews and Hoare remained totally emotionless as all the verdicts were returned. After all the verdicts were delivered, Hoare dabbed her eye with a tissue.

Trial judge, Mr Justice Dingemans, said he would pass sentence tomorrow.

A post mortem examination found Becky was suffocated during a “violent struggle” and suffered 15 stab wounds and a slash across her stomach after death.

Prosecutor William Mousley QC told the jury at the beginning of the trial: “She was suffocated, despite her fighting for her life.

“There followed a deliberate, carefully planned and grotesquely executed plan to cover up her killing.”

Mr Mousley said Matthews and Hoare planned to kidnap Becky and had brought a stun gun, handcuffs, tape and a large bag to her home.

Later the mother, grandmother and brother of Becky paid tribute to her outside Bristol Crown Court saying she was a “loyal, loving, smiley, feisty and caring” girl, adding, “cherish your children, as time with them can be too short”.