Bloodthirsty couple who murdered woman and dumped dismembered body in 'wicked' fantasy jailed for life
Bloodthirsty couple who murdered woman and dumped dismembered body in 'wicked' fantasy jailed for life
Share:
A convicted killer and his girlfriend who carried out the “bloodthirsty” murder of a woman before dumping her dismembered body in a park in south London have been jailed for life. Steve Sansom and Gemma Watts lured 38-year-old Sarah Mayhew to her death to fulfil their “sadistic and sexual fantasies”, the Old Bailey heard.
Sansom was out on licence for a past murder at the time they killed Ms Mayhew, before using power tools to cut up her body. The court heard he posted on Facebook under the alias Red Rum – murder spelled backwards – after they had killed Ms Mayhew, saying: “Best friends are those who don’t say anything when you show up at their door with a dead body.
![[Sarah Mayhew death]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2024/04/12/15/33/Sarah%20Mayhew%20death-kgm05mj1.jpeg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
“They just grab a shovel and follow you.”. On Thursday, Mrs Justice Cutts sentenced Samson, 45, to a whole life order which means he will never be released from prison. Watts, 49, held back tears as she was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 30 years.
The judge said of Ms Mayhew: “Her fear and suffering must have been acute as she realised why she was there and what was happening. “She was an innocent woman lured to that flat to die in order for you could both act out your bloodthirsty and wicked fantasy.”.
Ms Mayhew’s remains were dumped in Rowdown Fields, New Addington, last spring. The sentencing hearing was told the horrifying details of Sansom and Watts’ relationship, with a shared interest in “sado-masochistic violence”. Prosecutor Tom Little KC said messages shows that “such was the intensity of their relationship that they have often referred to dying together if caught”.
