The Dark Secrets Behind Becky Watts' Tragic Murder | Our Life

I'm WR this is the moment police moved in to arrest two criminals at the heart of one of the biggest manhunts in recent Years be compant and sister yet just put your hands like that for me all right everyone was desperate to find 16-year-old Becky Watts who had disappeared without Trace from her home in Bristol pleas we love you so much as hundreds of police across two counties searched for her forensics teams picked through the detail approaching the address their cameras capturing every clue they found the answers are always out there the answers are always there but as the hours went by friends and family grew frantic Su has happened and we need to find her and we need to find her fast now the police's own recordings reveal that behind closed doors detectives suspected two people did know where Becky was I know you've got something to tell us I can see it in your face with time running out and the life of a missing 16-year-old girl at stake how would they Crack the Case whole investigation is just set up to make sure that if she's still alive we save life that's our primary objective for the first time I've been given exclusive access to the hundreds of hours of footage the police filmed by the detectives who led the inquiry it's a remarkable insight into the police investigation as they raced to uncover what had happened to Becky have you hurt her no I haven't heard her do you know she's alive no [Music] please can I help um it appears my daughter's gone missing no one has seen her now no we phoned around the family all her friends have contacted us I'm asking where she is and none of them know what's her name uh Rebecca WS I remember just being so confused as to where she was she wasn't the type of person that would go somewhere and not tell people where she was going she wasn't the kind of person to stay out late either she'd always go to bed really early quite a few people I believe didn't really take the situation seriously like a lot of people were saying well she's just a teenager she's not she's just ran off or something like that and I'm like well you don't know her though so when you know somebody you know that they and you know they wouldn't do this you know that there's something wrong I want to get behind the scenes of the police investigation these hours of tapes offer a unique insight into how forensics and crime scene evidence are pieced together and crucially how detectives extract the truth in the interrogation room this interview is being digitally recorded at patchway police station in Bristol it's a continuation of the interview with privileged access to the police tapes from this disturbing case I'm meeting one of the lead detectives in the Becky Watts inquiry he'll tell me the inside story of the biggest investigation ever tackled by aan and Somerset police in this area how many teenagers go Miss missing so on a on a daily basis you know certainly dozens the vast majority um either famed by the police or famed by friends of family or they return to their own valtion what is the trigger point for actually treating this not as a missing person's inquiry but as someone who might have come to harm in Becky's case it was around the fact that her social media become very inactive her laptop her tablet computer was missing and her mobile phone um she had a group of friends um a really nice group of friends actually she was regular in contact with and all that ceased I was saying on day one you know I'm fairly confident here that something bad has happened to this young lady I just don't know exactly [Music] what police are tonight gr increasingly concerned about a teenage girl Becky Watts who's 16 was last seen at her Bristol home she told no one where she was going when she disappeared Becky's father Darren and stepmother Angie still live in the House where Becky grew up and from where she went missing they've agreed to share with me what happened from the moment Becky disappeared hi Susanna this is Becky on Christmas Day 3 years before she went missing oh the makeup kit I want yeah thank you this is her father Darren oh yeah and her stepmother Angie they'd lived together since Becky was two when Darren made the 999 call the family were becoming desperate what was it that set alarm bells ringing for you um it was when her friends turned up looking for her and then I rang Daren because all her friends were here and she wasn't I'm panicking at this point cuz I know there somewhat seriously I went up in a bedroom I had to look around see if I could see anything different this is so far out of her character that there is no way she has done this something has happened and I don't know where she is and we need to find her and we need to find her fast with no sign of her in Bristol DCI Richard aone calls in the National media hoping to make contact with Becky or anyone with her beex if you're watching this please come home we love you so much they still thought she was staying somewhere to be honest I still thought she might be staying somewhere I don't know if it's wishful think you you're so Lov and I don't think you believe that you really are so Lov and you T please come home or whoever's shelter in there do [Music] right on the Monday I'd had the the media in done the initial media release and by that point on the Tuesday the media descended on Bristol and the pressure around that had increased immensely the family home is really the last place of reference the last point of reference that we can actually Place her at and clearly we're trying to look at what happened after she left the family home on the 19th of February so last Thursday morning I think the fact that it was such a conundrum initially around okay well what's happened here uh but I think that's probably what gripped the nation and of course at various points the case then changed and I think that then held the attention of the media for such a long period of time away from the media campaign the police tapes show the detective's first move is to question the people closest to Becky they carefully avoid anyone feeling accused of wrongdoing so everyone talks freely helping police find out more about the missing girl those interviews really were about background about what we call victimology so what did Becky like what didn't she like where did she go who were her friends who were Associates what were her phone numbers do you know whether she uses WhatsApp yeah she does so you and her would normally be through text and um Facebook Messenger we were able to look for any things that didn't fit with the norm so patterns that didn't fit with a normal week or accounts from what had happened in the critical day that again didn't didn't seem right shaa heard the door go so I she was assuming it was Becky going out yeah so I'm assum it was back going out it would also involve when did you last see her when did you last have contact with her which clearly in this case is really important because we had that line in the sand on the Thursday morning and we were looking to try and get beyond that line if we could no one saw her go but just through the door again and the assumption that Becky had left us okay as the police check aliis from her friends and family for the day she went missing they discover that Becky's stepbrother Nathan and his girlfriend Shauna were at Becky's house and were the last people to see her um can you tell us your full name please it's sha Stacy Shain wh okay I'll just scribble that down Nathan Charles Matthews okay that and um all to call you Nathan yeah yeah okay I'm find to Big detectives now want to know everything about this last sighting but it's been difficult even getting the couple to the station Nathan and shaa were were the only two people that we interviewed that were actually difficult to pin down does that raise a red flag with you of course uh if you've got a you know Witnesses or or people that are within your investigation that don't appear to want to meet you it's always going to cause you some concerns um but I'd like you to take take yourself back to that day if you could and if you could just talk us through what happened in as much detail as you can remember okay okay um we me and Nathan we were we rang Angie yeah to see if she was going to be in that day Shauna being interviewed the report coming back from the the the interview advisor was that uh in terms of the way she presented she was giggly is quite U sort of light-hearted perhaps not in keeping with the serious nature of what was actually taking place at that point and the fact that Becky was still missing and she asked me if Becky had gone out and I said yeah I heard the door girl she must have gone out earlier when you heard that is your thought are you thinking that's the front door that slamed yeah yeah okay um and who did you think that was then well Becky okay Nathan came across as as as fairly unconcerned he's looking so relaxed he's certainly laidback he's in control and he's uh he's he's very very comfortable in his surroundings even laughing and joking yes Police become even more worried as the Coupes start to give their version of what happened the day Becky went missing and I heard the front door slam um carried on washing my hands went into the living room they were really consistent in their accounts however the detective side of your brain was also saying they fit together really conveniently and really really neatly even the best witnesses will provide accounts which are factually incorrect um and in this case it's slotted together very very neatly and what did that suggest indicates to me collusion they've basically talked to each other T to each other they've got their story straight and actually made sure that it fitted neatly I mean I think what we do is we probably wrap the interview up now we've been talking for 2 hours this quite a long time um my back's k I know but at that stage we didn't have any tangible evidence other than that your kind of Senses as a detective as an investigator I got a slight headache just trying to remember you a lot of brain power the interview team are suspicious but they need more than gut feeling before they can act so as the major crimes unit is brought on board they look to forensics to uncover the evidence they need the answers are always out there the answers are always there I'm a great believer in the fact that it is always out there and I'm constantly telling my team you know okay we need to keep plugging we need to keep plug if it's not in the witnesses it'll be in the phone workor if it's not in the phone workor it'll be in the CCTV inquiries with a countywide search and a national media campaign still ongoing the forensics team is sent back into Becky's house where she was last seen that's when we came across what appeared to be um blood or red staining um on the arra of the door frame leading into Becka's room it's very very difficult to see with a naked eye some of it was down very low some of it was about waist height and some of it was approximately shoulder height so the three different heights um did seem to strike a cord in terms of um well how what why you know had there been a struggle and within that blood stain is uh finger marks so fingerprints to what we call R detail within the police police and family must now wait to see if this discovery will take them closer to finding out what has happened to Becky the search for Becky Watts continued today family and friends scouring the Parkland and woods near her Bristol home hopeful they will find the 16-year-old safe and well Becky has now been missing for 9 days days detectives have no idea where she is but forensics have had a breakthrough and are analyzing a fingerprint and traces of blood found outside her bedroom meanwhile police ask Becky's stepbrother Nathan and his girlfriend Shauna back to the station for more questions the information that the investigators have within the team that are saying to me they're being evasive they're the last people potentially to see uh be alive so they're quite significant they're significant Witnesses and I think your experience as a detective shows you quite often those people that report to be the last person to see the individual alive potentially the suspects despite their suspicions the police have no evidence to link the pair to Becky's disappearance so they target shaa to work out if the couple are holding anything back machine's recording as he Nathan had any s of concerns about speaking to us not that you told me now no no okay if he does I wouldn't know then yeah how is he finding it um he's found it quite hard actually yeah or again knowing how hard it' be for his mom at the moment you know because Becky was almost like a da a daughter to her yeah you know and it has been very stressful for Angie in another interview room Nathan is giving a different account of the family Dynamics so how would you describe your relationship with Becky don't particularly talk to her but obviously I don't particularly like her and obviously what annoys me is the way she speaks to like my mom sometimes she be kind of like rude or whatever trying to think of an actual cfic time um it's a revelation but it's not enough to detain him then the investigation takes a dramatic turn forensics come back with their first results the fingerprint in the blood belongs to Nathan everything needs to be put in context the context here was Nathan and Becky didn't appear to get on and this is the advantage of the uh the significant witness interviews and building that victimology and building that picture so how could that blood be in with his fingerprint in upstairs on the first floor a location that we don't think Nathan went frequently so that's the first real big turning point it will take another 12 hours for the DNA results to reveal whose blood it is this gives detectives time to plan their response if it's Becky's blood with naked's fingerprinting it we will arrest we will arrest immediately we will arrest for kidnap the is ads come in it's Becky's blood an arrest team tracks down Nathan and shaa to a suburb of Bristol the police are still hoping to find Becky alive and now urgently need to question the couple bu the reason I've come here is to make an arrest of yourself okay and what I'm going to do is explain everything here and now okay just put your hands like that for me all right so the reason we arrested for kidnap at that point is we need to give ourselves the best possible opportunity we can possibly have of recovering her if she's still alive and the whole investigation is just set up to make sure that if she's still alive we save life that's our primary objective going be compliant and sister it was like seeing someone else's family go through it when I heard that two PE people have been arrested the G the ages gave it away I knew who it was before the police told me and I can't say I was particularly surprised if it was going to be something bad it didn't surprise me Nathan hated Becky and made it obvious with just 24 Hours by law to interview them the tapes show how police have carefully planned their questioning to keep the suspects talking what we don't want to do is is close her down we want her to continue to talk to continue to provide us with an account that we can then cross check there anything going on in that house that made you worried no or concerned no everything seemed normal nothing seemed wrong and I think you know it will seem kind of the same as it would any other day tell me about Nathan and Shauna's characters that emerged in the interviews that helped police devis the strategy to get the truth out of them okay so I think dealing with sha the first she's quite a confident person she is quite an articulate person comes across uh very well and um it was I was in the kitchen when I heard the door slam kind of carried on as I went back in the living room he's just kind of sat on the sofa I think he was playing on his tablet when the significant Witnesses it's more about trying to take the accounts from them whereas now we can ask more pressing questions around well why did you do that how did you do that so what were you doing there sort of far more incisive have you got any concerns or suspicions that Nathan or any other member of your family or extended family might be responsible for her disappearance no no why are you so sure because none of them like would do anything like that what comes across quite quickly is that she is telling a series of lies and she's telling them very compellingly uh and then you you're into the situation where she's providing the account and you know she's lying is there anything that happened that could be significant in The Disappearance of Rebecca you're absolutely sure yes I know you've got something to tell us I can see it in your face I was just making sure there was nothing like a weird significant thing that I hadn't thought of um but I don't know anything of course we're still hopeful that Becky might still be found alive safe and well but as time goes on um hope of course does fade um and we're getting further along the line of interviewing Nathan and shaa Nathan was a far more complex uh individual I don't believe would have responded well to confrontation or conflict within an interview so again the the strategy that we had was one that allowed him to talk and he talked quite confidently he wanted to have control or feel like he had control over the interview you wrote the address at the time that Rebecca or Becky I think most people know yeah Becky or be yeah okay do you know Where's Becky or be uh usually call her beex after luring Nathan in by giving him a sense of control the interview team changed Tac and challenge him directly what we're most interested in is finding Becky yeah that that's what the police want to do y so what can you tonight tell us about Becky's disappearance as in like what what do you want to know we want to find her where is she I don't know where she is is she safe well I didn't wish it so I meant to know do you know if she's alive no have you heard her no I haven't heard her the investigation now gathers speed and with Nathan and shaa under arrest police moved to search their house just over a mile from Becky's home cotton M land this is something that sticks with me and will stick with me throughout my career I have no doubt about that approaching the dress hello police there's still a hope there that actually you're going to find her and you're going to find her safe and well or you're going to find her and actually she's only harmed a little bit and we can get her back to her family hello police entering the house opening front door alone is very challenging it doesn't open properly because it extent of the stuff behind the door there are two fridge freezers behind the door course two steps of stairs that's the C hallway room to the left there a living area living room each room is jam-packed with material particularly the lounge particularly the kitchen to the point where when the search teams initially go in they don't realize there's an understairs toilet because they can't see the door in the hall leading to a um the kitchen area there's no sign of Becky but as the search goes on Richard finds a corner of the house that immediately Rings alarm Bells so I go upstairs uh turn right into the bathroom then there's a cooker there's a microwave you can barely see the sink the bath on the right hand side is extremely clean to the point where it is very very shiny um you can actually see shapes in it with how shine it is so that is what sticks in your mind immediately it's out of place in context with the rest of the address now clearly at that point I had no idea what was subsequently going to [Music] follow across this city there is an intensive search for Clues evidence being gathered in the hunt for a missing teenager police have been given more time to question two people in connection with The Disappearance of 16-year-old Becky Watts at this stage the investigation is extremely fast-paced there are other areas so there's further forensic searches and examinations that are taking place and all of that is feeding in to the interview coordinator who's then able to pass on to the interview teams it must be a very sensitive balance how much information you provide those people that you're interviewing viewing there's a very fine balance because if you give them too much clearly they're in a position to amend their account to fit the evidence if you give them too little um then they're probably not going to open up and talk to you or they're going to be advised to offer no comment by a legal representative so there is a really fine balance to be struck about how much we provide this interview is been digitally recorded it's been recorded audibly and Visually and I'm Marie Steven detective Constable 3302 at this stage of the process we've already thought ahead to what our strategy is for all of the interviews we had decided as an interview team we would not disclose what the evidence was detectives don't tell Nathan they now know it's his fingerprints in Becky's blood instead as their recordings show they continue to hint at what they found to increase his unease did you go up stairs in the house that at that time before your mom came home on that Thursday I'd say no no at I can't remember at most if if the no the door was shut we have to expect that it will be running through their mind what have the police found what do I need to explain away um and without giving that to them on a plate if you like it leaves them having to think about it and put puts them under more pressure as the questioning in the interview room intensifies the painstaking search through Nathan and Sha's house continues 2 Days in the team finds some receipts which take the investigation on a startling turn the uh the search coordinator said I've got these receipts and showed me the photograph and the receipts were within a an old changing unit which was at the top of the stairs um and those receipts indicated that somebody uh on the Friday when Becky was reported missing somebody had been to uh BQ and had bought a circular saw uh some gloves goggles and a face mask now that's a really significant moment for us because um you're trying to figure out what does that mean where does that take us does it really mean that he is trying to dismember a body that's a bombshell piece of evidence the CCTV chillingly reveals that 24 hours after Becky was last seen alive her stepbrother Nathan bought protective gloves goggles face masks and a circular saw um the investigation has taken a really Sinister horrific turn and actually you believe now you're looking at a murder most definitely it was the news the family had been dreading ever since Becky went missing there is a moment when you are told that Nathan a young man who you love and trust and care about who is part of your family who is your wife's son is the man they believe has murdered your daughter and that moment must have made your heart stop it did it did yeah yeah it's your whole world just folds in on itself they told me this is a murder inquiry and I know I you started shouting at that point oh no no no no no you're wrong she's got to be alive already in custody for kidnap 28-year-old Nathan and 21-year-old Shauna were were now arrested on suspicion of murder the police withheld their discovery of the receipt for the circular saw but increased the pressure by telling Nathan that his home had been forensically searched I think it it probably felt like he was battling against a rising tide and actually he could feel the evidence starting to come on top and actually it was starting to to weigh quite heavily um so you're reaching that Tipping Point where he's thinking okay I've now got a few options which is stop talking allog together carry on as I'm going which is deny deny deny or actually I need to get to the point where I need to make some Admissions and I think the weight of the evidence at that point made the last option the only one that he had at 10:26 p.m. on day 11 of the investigation Nathan gave police a statement through his lawyer very helpfully um we've been provided with a prepared written statement and what we would like to do now Nathan is for that to be told on the interview recording do I have to actually listen to it and I put my fingers in my ears yep thank you I Nathan Charles Matthews except I'm responsible for the death of Rebecca Watts on the 19th of February 2015 I attended Crown Hill St George Bristol with my girlfriend sha aore in my car I had a large bag a stun device handcuffs tape and mask I developed an idea to scare Rebecca by kidnapping her I wanted to scare her and teach her a lesson I believed that she was selfish and her behavior towards my mother was a risk to her health a few minutes after arriving Shauna said she wanted a cigarette and went into the garden I went to the boot of my car took out a bag that contained the items then went upstairs to The Landing before knocking on Rebecca door she replied what or hello and I said can I see you a minute I cannot be sure which order things happened but I used the items I had to subdue Rebecca during the short struggle my mask slipped and Rebecca was able to see my face this caused me to panic and I strangled her while she was partially in the bag there was a point where Nathan said that it had been an accident he confessed to killing her but he said it had he not intended to was the part of you that wanted to believe that I didn't believe that what did you think I I thought he'd done it and he did it on purpose Nathan went on to confess he'd used the circular saw to dismember Becky's body in the bath he admitted then wrapping up the body parts putting them in boxes and bags and hiding them in a shed just a few hundred meters from his home the nature of the find is is horrific and shocking I've I've never never dealt with anything like this and it'll it'll stay with me throughout my service it'll stay with me probably throughout my [Music] life after 12 days of hunting for Becky Watts a private ambulance leaves the scene of a grim Discovery the find in a garden and Terrace home on a small EST state in Bristol was made by Detective last night it was the outcome the teenagers family had prepared themselves for and feared most this sort of thing happens to other people it don't happen to us but there we were in that situation and then when we seen her in the mor again that that's when it really hit home then I mean they they did for police more they did their best to cover up her where they'd cut her up and things like that um but I could still see where they decapitated her uh and no no parent should have to see [Music] that yesterday Nathan you very kindly gave us a fairly lengthy prepared statement through your solicitor and we've had time to read that a prepared statement is r barely the whole truth and there may be a number of reasons why he's chosen to give us the account that he has in the way that he has now that could well be and is likely to be because he wants to downplay perhaps the violence that he's used or how long um it took for Becky to come to her death but another really obvious Factor would be that he has quite clearly excluded shaa from being involved in anything that happened or even having knowledge of anything that happened when Becky was killed or when Becky was dismembered and disposed of we have to be careful not to take that prepared statement on face value we have to investigate this whole offense and of course whilst you're being interviewed shaa is also I know Sha's been interviewed I want to talk about sha so you don't want to okay he's trying to take the heat away from her it was almost like there was an agreed path that they were going to walk that they were going to den to a certain point if the heat came on top Nathan would accept culpability he says that he killed Becky whil he was at the address on this date okay the focus switched to shaa um and trying to unpick some of her her deception some of her lies some of her concealment what's your knowledge of him killing Becky found out yesterday morning you found out yesterday morning um prior to that I had no idea that you had any involvement in anything at all they both stuck to their stories his was ridiculous hers was cold and [Music] calculating she's the brains was Becky stood up Nathan whilst you were in her no comment to what degree was she incapacitated then luk coming was she conscious at the time that you strangled her no comment 12 Days After Becky went missing Nathan had confessed to killing his stepsister but he was insisting he had acted alone detectives were certain his girlfriend shaa had played a part and now Focus their investigation on proving she was involved this is what made it quite challenging actually because Nathan's account is one which is built on truth but actually has a number of lies within it where shaa is lies throughout from start to finish what did Nathan say about Shauna's involvement in Becky's death he effectively said that sha had no knowledge of Becky's death and no involvement did you believe that at the time it it just seemed so implausible we knew that sha had lied about a number of different things uh during the course of her accounts um and it just seemed so given the circumstances under which Nathan was explaining that the murder had occurred it just seemed incomprehensible and how do we know you weren't involved in the killing of Beck supp there would be new proof mhm I haven't touched anything or been anywhere near her alive or dead after questioning both suspects for the maximum 96 hours Allowed by law Nathan was charged with Becky's murder and remanded in custody awaiting trial detectives still couldn't link shaa to the murder but they wanted to keep her detained while they searched for the evidence they were convinced existed shaa we weren't in a position where we could link her directly to the murder but we could evidence her lying so the outcome of that was that we charged Shauna with perverting the course of Justice initially the time by the interview clock is 1910 and this interview is suspended police had been desperate to prove Shauna had been involved in Becky's murder the couple's many phones and computers were scoured and DNA samples sent to the lab then in a shocking development a series of deleted texts were recovered from one of Shauna's phones they revealed for the first time the disturbing motivation behind 16-year-old Becky's murder so this evidence when it came back off of Nathan and Sha's primary phone numbers was absolutely crucial and what did their phone records and internet searches suggest so it showed uh internet searching of uh pornographic material around Becky's age um but it also showed some text messaging between the two of them where they were talking about young females uh potentially abducting a young female uh and taking them back to their home address and putting them in their Loft the police brought in shaa from raand for further questioning about this worrying new evidence of a sexual motivation to the [Music] murder so the first message is uh 9th of 12 2014 uh timed at 12:48 and it says to Shauna and um it says [ __ ] you bring me back two pretty school girls then D1 I think that says tell me about that text message no comment I mean it must have been a huge moment when you realized there were texts between Nathan and shaa yes discussing sick fantasies about teenage girls yes it was and and those texts some of them have been deleted so actually they weren't easy to come by next message is 9th of December 2014 at 1814 it says from shaa just went to Cost Cutters and saw a very in big caps pretty petite girl almost knocked her out to bring her home lol and there's crosses and zeros shaa what can you tell me about that no comment am I right in thinking that this girl was similar to Becca's age no comment what did they tell you about shaa uh I think they they showed that Shauna's involvement was was Far tighter far closer to actually what had happened than she was portraying uh bearing in mind that she was still maintaining a complete lack of knowledge and it also flew in the face of the account being provided by Nathan which was that sha had no involvement forensics then made a horrifying Discovery Shauna's DNA was on a face mask and on a bag containing Becky's Remains What did that suggest Shauna had been doing it suggested that she'd been involved in the dismemberment and the packaging of Becky after she'd been killed and again a really significant moment because that's the first time we could tie shaer in directly to what had gone on after Becky had died we were able to place sha and Nathan on a on a level footing in terms of the charges so they were both charged at the same both charged with murder both charged with averting course of justice and actually the the two sides of it were very very [Music] balanced at the trial Nathan was found guilty of murder he was sentenced to life imprison imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years shaa was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 17 years they killed her at home in a sexually motivated attack and attempted to lie their way out of it Nathan Matthews and sha aore are now both convicted killers of a young girl who was part of their family did it feel like justice to you as investigators we always put our our cases in the hands of the jury system that we have in this country and also in the hands of of the judge who obviously oversees the trial and I think in this case having sat through that sat through the evidence I think they did a fantastic job I loved Becky I was proud of her we had a very close relationship from the day she was born and there never be anyone quite like her [Music] I believe they came both up here they burst their on her they masked some and attacked her she must have been absolutely bloody terrified the image I have in my nightmares is in holding her down on the floor and she's doing that over her mouth and nose that's the image I get now there was no evidence of just as how it happened but that is the image I get in my nightmares they did it together they planned it together I don't know what they expected a gain from it because there was nothing in it for them so it was all pointless [Music]

Channel: True Lives

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Keywords: our life, documentary, world documentary, documentary channel, award winning, life stories, best documentaries, daily life, real world, point of view, story, full documentary, documentaries, real life

Id: joGrm8Ff3H0

Length: 45min 45sec (2745 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023