Becky Watts: Stepbrother Nathan Matthews charged with murdering 16-year-old girl

Matthews has been charged with murder and his girlfriend Shauna Hoare was charged with intending to pervert the course of justice

Lizzie Dearden
Wednesday 04 March 2015 17:19 GMT
A photo from 2012 believed to show Nathan Matthews, 28, and his partner Shauna Hoare, 21
A photo from 2012 believed to show Nathan Matthews, 28, and his partner Shauna Hoare, 21

Becky Watts' stepbrother has been charged with her murder two days after the 16-year-old's remains were found.

Nathan Matthews, 28, was initially arrested on Saturday on suspicion of kidnapping the teenager in Bristol but was re-arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday.

Avon and Somerset Police were granted an extra 24 hours to question him yesterday and the charge was announced this afternoon.

Becky Watts

His girlfriend, 21-year-old Shauna Hoare (previously named locally as Shauna Phillips), has been charged with intending to pervert the course of justice.

The pair, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, remain in custody and will appear before Bristol Magistrates' Court tomorrow at 10am.

Officers found Becky's remains in Bristol after receiving a tip-off on Monday night, more than 10 days after she went missing, telling them her body had been “cut up” and where to find it.

Becky’s family spoke of their devastation when the grim discovery was announced after hundreds of volunteers joined police in huge search efforts and a social media campaign for information on her disappearance reached four million people.

Her mother, Tania, grandmother Pat and brother Daniel Watts, said they were “devastated”.

“We are at an utter loss to understand why anyone would want to hurt our beautiful Becky in such a brutal way,” they added.

Becky's father, Darren Galsworthy, and step-mother Mrs Galsworthy said the news the teenager was dead was “too much to bear”, pleading for privacy.

A teddy bear and floral tributes have been left near Barton Court in Bristol

“We are heartbroken…we cannot begin to understand what has happened and why,” her grandfather John Galsworthy added.

“Becky was a wonderful daughter, sister, granddaughter and niece, and we cannot put into words how devastated we are."

The teenager, described by her family as "shy", vanished from her home in Crown Hill on 19 February and was reported missing the next day.

Flowers are left outside Becky Watts' family home on 3 March

She had taken her phone, laptop and tablet computer but did not tell friends or family where she was going or take extra clothes.

Flowers and tributes have been piling up near where her remains were found and at the gates of her home, where her family visited to lay their own bouquets in emotional scenes earlier today.

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