Becky Watts murder: Jail for couple who hid body in their shed

A couple who 'unwittingly' helped the murderer of Becky Watts by hiding her remains in their garden shed have been jailed.

Becky Watts. Picture: Contributed

Becky, 16, was suffocated by stepbrother Nathan Matthews after he hatched a sexually motivated kidnap plot with girlfriend Shauna Hoare.

The pair used a circular saw to dismember Becky’s body in the bath of their home in Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, before packaging her remains in cling film.

Matthews promised his neighbour Karl Demetrius, 30, a share of £10,000 for help moving and hiding the packages, stored in suitcases and a box.

Demetrius and his girlfriend Jaydene Parsons, 23, agreed to the deal and the items were moved into their garden shed – 250ft from Matthews’ home.

Police gained entry to the locked shed and discovered Becky’s remains –cut into eight parts – in the early hours of 3 March last year.

Parsons, mother to a young son and a 14-week-old baby, and Demetrius later admitted a charge of assisting an offender.

Bristol Crown Court heard the pair “could not have 
imagined” what they were storing for Matthews and believed it to be cannabis or stolen goods.

Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, jailed Demetrius for two years and Parsons for 16 months.

“The offender you assisted was Nathan Matthews, who has been convicted of the murder of Rebecca Watts and other related offences,” the judge said. “He not only killed Miss Watts but he dismembered her body in preparation for disposal of it. You both knew Nathan Matthews but neither of you could have imagine that he was capable of the levels of depravity to which he descended.”