True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

In this case I will be talking about the deaths of young children so please be aware that some of the details will be quite upsetting, I will try to be as sensitive as I can. 

So I'll start with the background into Louise Porton's life and to say there was red flags and trouble from the start, is an understatement. You know the saying ''He/She would steal off their own granny given half the chance'', well Louise Porton certainly did that, amongst other things. Born in 1997 she'd always been a problem child. Her family did their best to tolerate her strange outbursts at family gatherings but she continued to isolate herself and nobody could understand why. There was no abusive situation going on or problems in the family to give some sort of understanding as to why her behaviour was so hostile towards others.

Her attitude to the younger kids in the family was appalling, the kids would want her to play with them and join in the fun but she would scream at them and use profanities. If one of the children dare sit next to her on the sofa she would shout at them. It seemed that nobody was safe from her outbursts. As well as the shouting and bawling at the kids and the adults, she liked to cause harm to the children and then pretend she didn't touch them when they ran to the adults with tears in their eyes. It seemed that she enjoyed being sadistic, she enjoyed causing drama and upset. If there ever was birthday party or happy occasion, you could bet your bottom dollar that Louise would put a negative spin on it somehow. 

When she was 11 her Mother ran off with another man and left her and her siblings with her Father. Her Father did the best that he could as well as the family pitching in but the abandonment of her Mother was to forever leave a scar on Louise and her behaviour just continued to get worse. Her Mother attempted to have some form of contact with her later on but Louise didn't want to know, as far as she was concerned, her Mother picked her boyfriend over her kids and that was that. 

At the weekends, Louise would go to her Grandmother's house, her Grandmother was like a second Mother to her and she was always fed well and looked after. Instead of being grateful and appreciative of her Grandmother's kindness, she decided to cause mayhem at her house too and started to steal from her. When the family found out about this a storm erupted and the rot between Louise and her family continued to grow until Louise left and decided to cut her family off. 

Instead of sitting down and talking with her family or maybe looking into some form of professional help in regards to her behaviour, Louise's attitude was that it was all their fault and she was the innocent victim. In her mid to late teens she started sleeping around and getting into all sorts of trouble with various boys. She would would perform sex acts on anyone who gave her attention and if they treated her well, she'd sleep with them. Louise soon realised that she was quite popular with men because of her figure, flirty behaviour and short skirts and dresses. When one of the men she had an encounter with, gave her some money, she thought that she could make a living out of it. 

She became a sugarbaby. There are two types of sugarbabies, there is the one's who talk to men online via OnlyFans (or some other form of site) and money is exchanged but neither physically meet. Then there's the other kind that meet men in public, have dinner with them and then it's decided if sexual intercourse is going to occur. Obviously the ones who meet men for dinner will make more money if they decide to sleep with the guy. In a lot of cases where money in exchange for sex is involved, sugarbaby is a fancy way of giving this transaction a label instead of coming out with the words 'prostitute', 'Escort' or 'Hooker'. In Louise's case, she told everybody that she was a model.

She signed up to quite a few sites under the name 'Lollipop' and would talk to men, she would engage in 'sexting' (where two people exchange sexually explicit texts about what they would like to do to each other) & phonecalls, she would send nude pictures and would meet men for sexual encounters. Despite having an average appearance she managed to make a living out of it and she loved the attention. 

She began a relationship with a guy and in the beginning it all looked like she'd turned a corner and finally settled down, they had two children together but it soon turned sour and nobody knows why. All we know is that Louise left this man whilst pregnant with their second child and refused to let him near either of the girls. He didn't even get the chance to hold his baby girl. Whatever the situation was between them as a couple, the man had a right to at least have some sort of visitation right to his children especially as he posed no threat to them and was described as a decent man. People saw it as another one of Louise's games. 

Fed up with being a Mother and having responsibilities, Louise continued on with sex work, she was still young herself at only 21. Some people would say that having two kids at 21 is a lot to take on and could maybe understand why she struggled because usually at that age you're out clubbing with your friends. In Louise's case, she didn't care, she went out clubbing, she acted like she was a single, care-free, no kids type of person. The girls (Lexi, who was 3 & Scarlett who was 17 months) were either left alone in the house or she'd dump them off somewhere with either her sister or a babysitter. 

She remained hostile towards her family despite their efforts to help her with the girls. Her sister was the one who managed to get some sort of relationship with her but even then, that was hard work and the pair would often end up arguing because of Louise's lack of parenting skills. Her sister did the best she could to look after the kids whilst Louise was out and even their Mother tried her best but Louise continued to be ungrateful and took advantage of people. Whenever anyone tried to talk to her about her behaviour as a Mother, she didn't want to know, it was her way or the high way. 

As well as difficult relationships with family members, Louise had a hard time keeping friendships too. She was a toxic person to be around and it was always about what people could do for her. 

She was addicted to the sex work and the attention from the creeps who paid her for sex. They became more important than her daughters and these men (customers, sugardaddies etc) would be invited back to the very small flat that she had (it's often been described as a bedsit) and whilst her two little girls were in the same room sleeping, she would have sex with these strange men basically in front of her own kids. Some of the guys would even ask if it was ok to have sex with the kids asleep in the room, her response was ''It'll be fine, we can do it if we are quiet''. Even writing this makes me feel sick, I think anyone who could have sexual intercourse in a room where children are present is just utterly vile, I can't even find the words for it and if you are a guy who is able to 'perform' in such circumstances, well, in my book that's peadophile territory.

It's not known what was the trigger for Louise doing what she was eventually to do where the girls were concerned, she continued with the sex work no matter where the girls were. She didn't seem to care what they saw, what they heard or what danger she was putting them in. 

It was no secret that Louise hated being a Mother, despite being blessed with two beautiful little girls, she just didn't have a maternal bone in her body. She didn't have care for anyone at the best of times, all she saw and cared about was herself and although out in public she dressed the girls nice and acted like Mum of the year, at home she was verbally and physically abusing the girls. 

In the same week of January 2018, Lexi had been admitted to the hospital twice. At the first admittance Louise claimed that Lexi was having breathing difficulties, the poor little angel was in a poor state and the Medical team did what they could to help the child and on that occasion they were able to help her to pull through. Instead of being an emotional wreck at her daughter's bedside, Louise was acting like the whole thing was such an inconvenience for her. Not a tear in her eye or care, you'd think she'd be hugging the Doctors to say thank you but not a thing. Instead, whilst Lexi was in the hospital bed, Louise was on her phone talking to creepy Tom, Dick & Harry arranging meet-ups, sending nude pictures and thinking about how much money she was going to make. 

Lexi was a tough little cookie and was able to leave the hospital but Doctors were shocked to see her back again a couple of days later, this time they couldn't save her and it was heartbreaking. Louise showed no emotion and instead ran off to the bathroom to take topless pictures of herself to send to a man online in exchange for some cash. 

The heartless behaviour continued when Louise was at the funeral parlour, she was overheard laughing and joking on the phone. One of the staff noticed that she was talking to a man on FaceTime about meeting up. 

Just a few weeks after this, Louise murdered Scarlett and pretended to the paramedics that she had no idea what had happened, she told them she had the flu just like Lexi. 

Louise was trying to make out that both the girls had died from some bizarre flu-like illness and the Doctors struggled to find out what exactly caused their deaths. To anyone reading this post and to the people who knew Louise, it wouldn't be that hard to work out exactly what took place here, both of the girls dying in weeks of each other, Louise's behaviour and lack of love and care towards her kids. It was obvious and the cops investigated further and found some interesting internet searches on Louise's computer. 

Louise had been browsing in between chatting to men online. She looked up various killing methods to do with death, drowning, how to cover up a crime etc. After further investigation it was determined that both girls had died of some form of asphyxiation and Louise was arrested. 

She stood trial in 2019 and was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 32 years. When told of her fate, she simply stared down at her shoes. At no point during the trial did she show any remorse or apology what what she had done. 

Louise is currently serving her sentence in HM Prison Foston Hall in Derbyshire, England. 

In a sad and strange turn of events to the case, her estranged Mother took her own life in February 2020. It was reported that she had received a lot of online abuse because of what Louise had done and she was also tormented by what had happened. 

This was another tough case to cover and one that I found on my list of cases from a while ago. It's heartbreaking on so many levels. I think about how lucky Louise was to have had such beautiful little girls, it was her role to look after them, protect them and love them, instead she hurt these poor babies and what for? Money? Attention? The fact of the matter is, she should never have had children in the first place, knowing what we know about her now, you can imagine that she thought she would get more welfare money or something if she had kids. She certainly didn't want to be a Mother. As for her family, they expressed an interested in looking after the girls many times but Louise would have none of it. 

Why was Louise Porton the way that she was? What caused all of this? The family say there was no abuse but could it be possible that something happened to Louise somewhere away from the family home? Or was she just born evil? She never wanted to show love or be around people when she was a child so we cannot attribute this to Postnatal Depression. Louise was 21 when she murdered her children, not only has she taken these beautiful girls lives, caused her Mother to end hers and the family to be traumatised, she's wasted her own life. At 21 she was almost just a kid herself, certainly in her behaviour but that's no excuse for what she did. 

RIP Lexi and Scarlett, fly high beautiful little angels, you will never be forgotten. 

Further Reading & Sources

- Court Documents | Regina V Louise Porton

- Louise Porton | Article: BBC News

- Louise Porton | Article: Daily Mail

- Louise Porton | Article: The Sun

- Louise Porton | Article: Independent

- Louise Porton | Article: Mirror

- Louise Porton | Article: Birmingham Mail

- Louise Porton | Article: Wales Online

- Louise Porton | Article: The Guardian

- Louise Porton | Wikipedia

- Louise Porton | CCTV Footage: Daily Mail

- Louise Porton | CCTV Footage: Daily Mail

I would like to thank you as always if you've made it this far in my post, I know it's never easy to read and hear about these situations. We live in a horrible world sometimes, there is a lot of good in this world but there's a lot of evil too. There's people out there trying so hard to start a family or maybe can't afford to have one and would have given anything to have two beautiful daughters like Lexi and Scarlett. Louise is a twisted, evil and selfish narcissist and one wonders what must be going through her mind as she sits in her prison cell tonight , thinking about all those sexual favours with dirty old men for money, well that money is no use to her now. She had two of the most precious things in life that no money could ever buy and she ended their lives and threw hers away in the process. 

I hope you will join me again in my next post and I hope to see you on my Socials too.

Take care of yourselves x 

(Richard Kuklinski. Picture credit: mirror)

 Richard Kuklinski is a name that few could ever forget, especially his nickname 'The Iceman'. He was as cold as ice in every sense of the word and although he was responsible for many deaths, he is not classed as a serial killer by the powers that be. Richard was a contract killer for the mob but he didn't just kill guys who didn't pay their debts, he killed guys who maybe looked at him the wrong way or, as he would put it ''made him feel bad''. It didn't take much to make Richard Kuklinski feel bad, he was a ticking time bomb who could be sitting having a calm chat with you one minute but then fly of the handle the next and shoot you. 

I've written about many serial killers and having spent a lot of time reading books about Richard and watching his prison interviews, it's clear to see that he has that cold, dead lack of remorse for his victims as many serial killers do but that he also did show emotion when it came to his family. Richard's family meant the world to him, his 'job' meant that he could provide for them and give them the better start in life that he never had. Richard isn't found on the Serial Killer list because he's classed as 'Killing for profit' with connections to the mob but there is still something so evil and sinister about how he was able to carry out his crimes without a shred of remorse and later talk about it like it was nothing. 

The things that he had done would sicken even the most hardcore of people. He wouldn't just carry out a contract killing with a simple bullet in the back of the head as is usually the case, no, Richard was very sadistic in his killings, he'd also take requests from the people who hired him. In one incidence he murdered a man then cut out his tongue and placed it in the man's anus. His methods of killing would involve shooting, strangling, beating or poisoning. He'd also dispose of the bodies in different ways, some were dismembered, some were crushed, some were left on a park bench for a member of the pubic or police to find and on one occasion that we know of (although this is assumed to have happened before), Richard kept a man's deceased body in a huge refrigerator for two years, this earned him the nickname 'The Iceman'. 

But who was Richard? How did all of this begin? Well, I've started this post a little differently with this lengthy introduction but Richard is quite infamous with many books, documentaries, interviews and so forth online and in libraries about him, there's even a movie based on him. I just wanted to talk about him briefly in this post as I have never covered a mob related crime before, especially a hit man story.

It will come as no surprise to you that Richard had a difficult and very disturbing childhood. He was born on the 11th of April 1935 into quite a cold and violent household in Jersey City, New Jersey (USA). He was the second of four children and the family struggled with poverty. His parents both had jobs but had very little money. He described his difficult childhood in an interview, he claimed that his mother was 'cancer' and would physically assault him for no reason. His father was also very violent to him and his siblings. Richard was quite a shy, timid child who struggled because of his home life. He was very confused because he'd be beaten by his parents for no reason at all, he lived his early childhood walking on eggshells. 

Because of his timid nature he became the target for a group of local bullies called 'The Project boys'. Everyone in the neighbourhood was living in hard times but this didn't create a sense of community as it should, so there was a lot of violence and crime. Richard struggled to fit in and the bullies would harass and beat him every chance they could get. Richard didn't have the strength to fight back and he felt very weak because of this. He didn't have the confidence and strength to stand up to his parents at home and he didn't have the strength to fight of the bullies, until one day, Richard had, had enough. 

He took a clothes pole from the wardrobe and went outside to where the bullies were hanging out. Without warning he proceeded to attack the gang of boys with the clothes pole. Nobody was expecting it and Richard had really shocked and frightened everyone, it did the trick though because they gang stopped bothering him. Instead of leaving things at that and being satisfied that he'd stood up to the bullies and made his point, Richard was hungry for blood. 

He spotted one of the gang members hanging about on his own one night and decided to beat the boy. The boy would not stop shouting and before he knew it, he had beaten him so badly that the boy was (in his mind) unconscious. Richard felt pleased with himself as he walked away with the clothes pole and felt that everyone would see what he had done and nobody would be able to dare mess with him in the future. 

Richard found out the next day that the boy he had beaten, had died. He was in shock and he later claimed that he didn't want that to happen, he claimed he just wanted to teach him a lesson and make a point to the others. He stood at his bedroom window and could see the police were everywhere and at first he was horrified with what he had done and nervous that people would put two and two together and come for him. He skipped school for a week because he couldn't face people. As the days went on, Richard realised that the cops were not going to come looking for him, the cops had nothing. It was at this point where he started to feel powerful, like he'd managed to do something that nobody else could. He felt smug and soon went from feeling a bit regretful at what he had done, to what he described as 'a buzz'. 

Richard had murdered someone for the very first time and nobody knew it was him. He had this secret that only he knew and he ended someone's life, to him, that made him feel powerful and gave him a surge of confidence. 

This murder was not a one-off and this was the start of a deadly path that Richard was to walk down. Things at home were horrendous, his father went too far with the beatings one night and had actually killed Richard's brother. Even sickeningly. his mother covered up what his father had done and told investigators that the boy had simply fallen down the stairs. Richard was horrified and the police carried on about their business, case closed. There was no proper justice for his brother. His father soon walked out on the family and it wasn't long before Richard had left too. 

He thought of himself as a bit of a businessman and would buy and sell copied pornographic videos as well as other items. In time he would become connected to the mob and soon he was making a lot of money dealing with them. He claimed that he had no choice and could not get a normal 9-5 job because of lack of proper education.

The only thing steady and pure in Richard's life was his partner, Barbara, he felt that he could really be himself around her. She knew all of his weaknesses and didn't try to mock him or exploit him. As close as he and Barbara were, even she wasn't safe from his temper. 

On one occasion where Barbara had been worried sick about her father who was in hospital, Richard laughed about the situation and asked if her father was dead. He made a disturbing comment which caused Barbara to snap back at him. Richard, under no circumstances put up with anyone else talking to him in a certain way but he certainly wasn't going to have Barbara speak to him like that either. 

Barbara knew she was in trouble and ran outside in her robe, freezing cold. He chased after her in his car like a madman and tried to run her over. Barbara managed to get to spot where she was safe but could still see him. Richard had gone back to their house and sat outside in the car banging his head against things and hitting himself, Barbara watched on in utter disbelief. As cold as she was, she stood there until Richard tired himself out and slowly slumped back into the house before she attempted to go home. Luckily he had calmed down and gave her one of his frightening warnings. Some people reading this would think ''why didn't he leave him?''. Well for Barbara, Richard had been the perfect man when they met, he bought her roses, chocolates, held doors open for her and there was never an issue in the beginning. He bought her expensive designer clothing and treated her to the best restaurants so it was clear that Barbara enjoyed that lifestyle. 

Some eyebrows were raised but Barbara claimed to have no idea of what her husband did for a living. She said that she had never challenged him and it was understood that she was not to ask him any questions.  The couple had children together and lived in a beautiful big house. Richard became obsessed with the idea of moving to the same expensive neighbourhood that a former American president was living in. Richard's view was that he had all of this money, had the best of everything, gave his family the best of everything and now here he was, in the possibility of having a former president as a neighbour. To Richard, this proved to himself that he was not going to turn out like his parents, that he was not still that poor, bullied kid from a bad neighbourhood. His kids were not going to know what his childhood experience was like, he wanted them to have the finest things and education that money could buy. To Richard, money was status and he would do anything to get it. 

Richard kept his double life private, his family would be safe at home and he would travel around, meeting shady figures, making money deals and killing for his mob customers. After he did these unspeakable things and dumped bodies that he took time to dismember, he would return to his family without a care in the world. Richard never cared about any of his victims and wasn't sorry for what he had done. The only thing he felt sorry for was hurting his family. 

He was so cold and collected that he was able to shoot someone at point blank range on a Christmas Eve night and then calmly leave the body in the victim's car and return to his house to be with his wife and children as they opened presents and sang Christmas songs. Richard recalled seeing the news reports that night and found it amusing that the reporters had called the incident a mob killing and that they had no leads. When asked later on if he felt any remorse about murdering this man on Christmas Eve, all he could say was that he was more concerned with helping his kids put their toys together. Whenever he was asked about what he had done or why he had done it, he'd always respond with ''It was just business''. 

Richard managed to carve out a life for himself and his family and had managed to get away with things for years. The police were soon on his tail though when they began to notice that many of Richard's acquaintances were suddenly turning up dead somewhere or that people who had been due to meet him for a business meeting, were suddenly vanishing into thin air. Richard had a habit of getting rid of people and even he didn't know for sure how many guys he had killed, it could possibly be over 100.

After leaving a trail of bodies behind him in various circumstances, an undercover cop befriended him in an attempt to get information. The cop wore wires at the meetings and as the man's colleagues listened on as Richard described in detail how he loved to kill people using the poison, Cyanide, they realised that the cop would be next on Richard's hit list. It was a bad sign if Richard Kuklinski opened up to you about his crimes, it meant that your days, possibly moments, were numbered. Whatever the case, Richard got sloppy and managed to fall into the trap that the cops had set up for him. As intelligent as he was in the ways of crime, Richard had been fooled by the undercover cop and soon found the handcuffs on him. 

He was arrested on the 17th of December 1986 and was as cool as a cucumber with no extreme reaction. He later said that he responded in this manner because his wife was present. If his wife had not been there, he would have had a shoot-out with the cops. 

Richard was sentenced to 60 years in prison and later had an additional two life sentences added on, he was never going to see the light of day outside of the prison walls again. In a bizarre incidence, the infamous murderer, John List (I wrote about his case here!!) had gotten word that Richard was on his wing and set about trying to befriend him. Richard was having none of it, despite killing people for money and greed, Richard was on his high horse about John List and the fact that John had murdered his family. Richard felt that his victims deserved what they had gotten, that the most of them were bad guys but John's victims were is own family and to Richard, killing your own family was something that could never be forgiven. 

Richard, despite his unloving and violent home life as a child, had managed to build his own family with his wife and quite shockingly, he was a great father (which is quite a bizarre thing to say) and had a very strong bond with his children. It's hard to believe that the same man who put dead bodies in freezers and dismembered people, was also the same guy who took his wife to feed the ducks at the local park and would request romantic songs to be played when they had dinner at their favourite restaurant. He was so much like a mobster, he wasn't Italian but his belief about the importance of protecting the family at all costs and with his life of crime, treating it all as just 'business', it screams of movies we have all seen in the past like Goodfellas and The Godfather. 

He remained private about his family in his years in incarceration but it is clear that he was in touch with them. His wife never divorced him but she did sell the house and moved away. His children grew up and had families of their own. The only time that Richard ever showed any emotion was when he spoke about his family. He didn't care about his victims or the families of his victims. 

In an interview, which can be found online, Richard sits chewing gum, acting carefree and casual as he talks about his crimes in that slow, distinctive tone of his which is pretty much unmistakable. He tells the story of a man he had murdered. He explains in a cold, unfeeling manner that the man begged and pleaded for his life, that the man prayed to God for help. Richard found that amusing (especially as his parents were very religious and he had a stint himself as an alter boy) and told the man that he would give him 30 minutes to ask God to come down and change the situation. When God didn't show up, he murdered the man. There's a brief moment where it looks like Richard is having a moment of regret, a spark of remorse in his eyes but it's soon gone and he says ''I shouldn't have done it.....I shouldn't have done it in that way.''

As years went by with Richard in prison, he was quite open to talk to various investigators and criminal profilers as well as writers. As I mentioned before, there is quite a number of articles, books and documentaries on him. I think the most informative of them all is his prison interview because obviously that's straight from the horse's mouth (I will include the interview along with other useful links at the end of this post). His final years in prison were plagued with illness and paranoia. He was convinced that the mob were trying to poison him behind bars. Richard was called to give evidence against a former associate and he told his family that he was potentially being poisoned. Things took an even bizarre turn when Richard suddenly passed away on the 5th of March 2006 which was attributed to his health issues (Kawasaki disease) but his family who had taken on board his concerns that the mob were trying to kill him, requested a second opinion after an autopsy had been performed. It was confirmed that Richard Kuklinski had died at the age of 70 from natural causes. 

Normally towards the end of a post I take a moment to think about the victims of terrible crimes that I have written about but in this situation, it's a bit of a conundrum because Richard, who was a murderer, a thief, an abuser and a monster, was killing other people who were murderers, thieves, abusers and monsters. So instead I think about his children and the children of the people that he killed. One can only hope that these children didn't go on to repeat the sins of their fathers. 

Richard said that he had learned from a young age that if you hurt people, they leave you alone. One wonders what would have happened had Richard not had the childhood he was forced to endure. He didn't really have a chance to begin with in those circumstances but that doesn't excuse what he did and what he became. He proved that he could be a family man and make a real go of things but in his mind, in order to have the life that he wanted, the fancy lifestyle and the better schools for his children, he couldn't resist the money and power that his crimes gave him. 

And his family? the fact that they continued to have a relationship with him after everything was out in the open. I have to say that, I can sort-of understand because he was a different person with them and because of who his victims were. I don't mean that to sound in a disrespectful manner but he was killing bad guys who were involved in bad things, if he'd been killing innocent people, women, elderly ladies, children etc then I think it would have been different, his family would have disowned him possibly? Richard Kuklinski was two people and was able to lead a double life for years.

He said he wanted to give his family and children the life that he never had as a child and to begin with, when everything was hidden, his family had the good life and never wanted for anything but that soon came crashing down. They are left with a legacy of what he has done and I know that troubled him. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer | Book by Philip Carlo

- The Iceman Tapes: Conversations With A Killer: Richard Kuklinski | Interview (Documentary)

- The Iceman & The Psychiatrist | Interview (Documentary)

- Richard Kuklinksi | Crime Museum

- Richard Kuklinski | Wikipedia

- The Iceman | Movie: Wikipedia

I thank you as always for checking out my latest post and I will hopefully see you again in my next case as well as on social media. 

Take care x 

When the beautiful and shy 16 year old Becky Watts suddenly disappeared from her family home in Bristol, England in 2015, people were in shock and couldn't understand it. It was so out of character for the young schoolgirl who would be too shy to even pay for her fare on the local bus or ask a shop assistant a question. Becky had social phobia and was very quiet around people she didn't know but when she was around her family and very close knit circle of friends, you couldn't keep her quiet. 

As quiet and gentle as she was, she was popular with the small group of people she surrounded herself with and her family adored her, especially her father Darren (who everyone called 'Da') so when she was reported missing, everyone gathered at the family home making posters, phonecalls, searching the local area and working together with the police to try and find out where Becky had gone. 

Like a lot of young girls, Becky had gone through a number of different experiences growing up and one of them was the eating disorder, Anorexia. With the support of her family, she was able to move past this and although her ordeal didn't vanish completely, she was able to manage it better and had gotten herself back to a more healthier eating pattern and weight. 

Becky and her father had a very close relationship and could talk about anything, so it was a complete mystery as to why she would suddenly up and leave without leaving a letter or letting anyone know why. In this post, I will be sharing the heartbreaking and gut wrenching story of what really happened to Becky Watts. It's a very difficult case and very disturbing but as always, I will try to be as sensitive as possible without shying away from the facts and details of the case. 

Please be aware before reading any further that I will be discussing murder, sexual assault and human dismemberment. If you are under 18 or are sensitive to such discussion, please refrain from continuing with this post. 

So let's begin with a little bit about Becky's background. As I mentioned before, Becky had been through some journeys as a young girl, only 16 but had dealt with the difficulties of an eating disorder and in her earlier childhood she and her big brother, Danny came to stay with their father and his new partner, Anji as their biological mother was struggling to take care of them. Anji already had a son who was 10 years older than Becky, his name was Nathan and he lived full time at his grandmother's house. Anji felt it was best for Nathan to remain where he was because he had settled in at school and had friends where he was staying so when she moved in with Becky's father, she didn't want to disrupt Nathan's routine in any way. 

Sometimes when a father starts a new relationship with someone else who already has a child, it can be a bit difficult but for Becky and Danny, they took to Anji straight away, they adored her and they loved Nathan too. Everyone seemed to get on like a house on fire but behind the scenes, Nathan began to resent the fact that Darren's kids were at the house with his mother all of the time and he saw the close bond that was developing between Anji and Becky. 

Becky was so young and always wanted to play with the boys but Nathan was always so distant with her. As she grew older, the pair would argue off and on but she still adored him. She treated him like any sister would treat a brother, found him annoying at times but still cared for him. 

As the years went by, Darren continued to work full time but Anji struggled with her health, she always felt so exhausted. With Darren's support she went to the hospital to have some tests and it was there that they found that she was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Darren did his best to help Anji around the house and Nathan & Becky chipped in too. Nathan was also seeing a girl by the name of Shauna Hoare and she and Anji got on very well but Darren always thought there was something about Shauna, something sinister that he couldn't quite put his finger on. 

The family decided that because Shauna and Anji got along so well, it made sense for Shauna to become Anji's carer whilst Darren was at work, and she would be given some money for her help. Shauna was supposed to help Anji out with the cooking, cleaning and taking care of the house but it soon became clear that Shauna was quite lazy, had no intention to help out and was only interested in the money. The arrangement soon fell to the side. 

Darren couldn't stand Shauna's ungrateful attitude towards people, whenever Becky would buy clothes from her favourite online retail store, some of the items wouldn't fit so she would give them to Shauna. Shauna would just take the clothes and not even say a thank you to Becky for her kindness. Becky wasn't bothered about it and didn't make a fuss but it would drive Darren mad. 

Arguments between Nathan and Becky got worse, there was a 10 year age gap between them and Nathan was still acting like an immature mummy's boy who still had this jealous streak about Becky's close relationship with his mother. 

What nobody knew at the time was that Nathan had been harbouring sick fantasies about young girls around Becky's age. He had an obsession with schoolgirls and Shauna was well aware of all of this and even encouraged the whole thing. The pair would send each other messages and talk about how they wanted to kidnap a schoolgirl and keep the girl as a sex slave. It was all very sick and perverted. Nathan was in his late 20s, Shauna was 22 and they'd just had a baby but here they were, sharing these disgusting, paedophilic fantasies. 

There was no big dramatic incident or argument on the day that Becky went missing, she just simply vanished and no stone was left unturned in the search for her. All hands were on deck when it came to looking for her and cooperating with the cops. Everyone was frantic with worry and wanted to do everything they could to help, everyone but Nathan and Shauna. For some reason these two individuals were acting quite distant and were hard to pin down. Their behaviour was suspicious from the start. 

In police interviews, the pair acted casual, cool and laughed. They acted like the whole situation was one big joke. A comment from Nathan raised a few eyebrows from the investigators. He mentioned that he felt that Becky did not show his mother enough respect. Investigators and anyone watching the interview footage could sense an air of animosity there which was quite strange considering the circumstances, you would expect him to be worried sick about his step sister. 

Things went from bad to worse when blood was found in the family home belonging to Becky and Nathan. Later on, investigators found Shauna's DNA on a mask and some trash bags. It soon became clear, the horrific truth....Becky was deceased, she'd been murdered and Nathan and Shauna had been responsible for her death. 

In the beginning, Nathan did what he could to protect Shauna, claiming that she knew nothing of Becky's death but forensics said otherwise. When he knew the cards were all stacked against him he chose to have a written statement (a typical move from a coward who wants to downplay their involvement in a crime or avoid talking face to face about what they have done) and confessed to Becky's murder. 

We may never know the true events of that horrible day but according to Nathan Matthews, he came up with this ridiculous plan to scare Becky because he was fed up with how she was treating his mother and was worried about how her behaviour would affect his mum's health. This alone was nonsense, anyone who knew Anji and Becky could clearly see how close the pair were and Becky was like a little mummy's girl around Anji. There was no problems at home so this story he had come up with was pure nonsense. 

He arrived at the family home on the 19th of February 2015 with Shauna whilst nobody but Becky was there. Becky was in her bedroom and he told investigators that Shauna went into the garden to have a cigarette (which was another lie, she was with him the whole time). They had a trash bag, a stun gun, handcuffs, tape and a mask as they made their way to Becky's bedroom. The pair charged in on the frightened teenager in an attempt to kidnap her. Nathan said that he wanted to kidnap Becky, hold her somewhere for a while just to scare her and then let her go. It's clear to see from the messages that Nathan and Shauna shared, that this was a horrible sex assault gone wrong. They talked many times about kidnapping a schoolgirl and using her as a sex slave and it's quite obvious that this is what Nathan had planned for Becky. All those years, he had designs on his own step sister and when he couldn't get his own way he took her life. 

As timid and shy as Becky was, she put up a strong fight. The evil pair had her trapped in her own bedroom and as they attempted to bundle the terrified child into the trash bag, Becky kicked and lashed out in an attempt to protect herself. Shauna tried to hold Becky down as Nathan tried to get her into the bag, suffocating her as he did so. Within moments Becky was dead. 

It was pure horror, evil and no words could I ever find to describe it. Not even being there to witness such horror but the details are enough. As a final insult, Nathan and Shauna took away Becky's body to their cluttered and filthy home where they placed her remains in a bath tub and proceeded to continually stab her body. Nathan's sick idea that he had read somewhere in an attempt to drain out all of the bodily fluids. After this he took the saw that he had purchased in organisation for the crime and took apart Becky's remains, decapitating her in the process. He then placed each of the remains in plastic bags and arranged a hiding place for them. Shauna's DNA was found on the bags so she helped him carry this sickening act out. 

When Becky's father found out the truth of what happened he was incredulous, beyond anger, beyond pain. I cannot imagine how he felt but I read his book and even taking in his words, one cannot begin to imagine the loss of a child for one thing but in the manner in which she died, what happened afterwards to her remains and to think that all of that had been done by someone that he considered a son....it's just beyond all understanding and belief. 

And the guilt that Anji must have felt, even though she was not responsible. She had lost two children, one was her son who she thought she knew, this evil monster who had done such a horrendous thing and also the loss of a young daughter in such an evil and sickening manner. 

Some people raised eyebrows as Darren and Anji continued to be a tower of strength for each other despite everything that happened. Darren didn't blame Anji for what Nathan had done but he still hated Nathan and wanted to kill him. It was difficult for everyone to try and process. It was the stuff of nightmares. 

When Becky's funeral took place it was a beautiful service and she had a white coffin. Her biological mother was not present as she wanted to grieve in private away from the cameras. Anji arrived with Darren, she was in a wheelchair, possibly an indication of how much the ordeal had taken it's toll on her health personally. One can't imagine not only how hard it was for Darren losing his beautiful daughter but for Anji too who had all eyes on her. The newspapers focused their attention on her as the mother of the killer as if to say that she should not have been there. 

The trial was even more difficult as if everything else had not been the most evil of nightmares already, Darren, Anji and the rest of Becky's family had to sit there and hear the harrowing details of Becky's murder. 

When it all came to a close, Nathan Matthews was sentenced to a life sentence with a minimum of 33 years and Shauna was given 17 years for manslaughter. They both had the nerve to appeal their convictions but these were later thrown out. 

Since Nathan and Shauna have been behind bars, they have both been subjected to various assaults by fellow prisoners. In one incident, Nathan had boiling water thrown at him, when Darren heard of this news on the same day as his birthday, he celebrated and said that it was the best present he could have gotten. 

Darren and Anji are still together and plan to be buried next to Becky when they pass away. 

This case was so incredibly sad and unbelievable, I remember following the news reports at the time. I think we all thought that this was a really sad but common situation of a young girl running away to meet a boyfriend or something like that, but we hoped that she would return safe to her family. Obviously the real story was horrendous and every child who is reported missing, no matter the circumstances, should be taken seriously. I honestly don't know how Darren and Anji hold it together. I will honestly say though, that as I was reading Darren's book and how he spoke of how Anji had a desire to see Nathan and ask him why he murdered Becky and the fact that she still loved him, it baffled me. I can understand in some ways wanting to know why but to say that she still loved him? How could you love anyone who did that? Her son is a monster, pure evil, a perverted, sick and twisted monster. People may disagree with my opinion but anyone who can take a saw and cut a child into pieces is not worthy of love (in my opinion). 

I'll be honest, It's not my decision or my business but I hope that Anji doesn't visit Nathan in prison, you could just just imagine his smug evil face thinking he'd gotten away with it where his mother was concerned. If you've read about the case before my blog you probably see how he had a very good way of manipulating his mother and making out that he did it all for her to protect her health when we know it was a perverted plan gone wrong. The murder wasn't done to protect his mother, it was his plan to live out a sick sexual fantasy. 

As I bring this post to a close, I think about Becky and how her short life had made such a huge impact to the small group of people she held dear to her. In life it is all about quality not quantity and we know that Becky will never be forgotten, she was too much of a bright light in this world. Who knows what she would have gone on to achieve and where she would be now. I hope wherever she is, that she is at peace. 

RIP Becky 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Becky: The Heartbreaking Story of Becky Watts by Darren Galsworthy

- Becky Watts | Various News Articles by Bristol Live

- Murder of Becky Watts | Wikipedia

- Becky Watts | Article: The Sun

- Darren Galsworthy Interview | BBC Newsnight (Clip)

- Nathan Matthews | Interview (Clip)

- Danny Watts | Interview (Clip)

- Becky Watts | News Report: Good Morning Britain (Clip)

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest case, I really appreciate it & for all of your support over the years with this blog. Take care and I'll see you next time (& hopefully for a natter on my Socials) x