Couple Jailed For Life For Flatmate's Murder In Stratford

25 January 2017, 17:05 | Updated: 25 January 2017, 17:19

A couple who killed their flatmate in Stratford upon Avon and tried to make it look like self harm - have been found guilty of murder.

Jack Williams, 21, and Kayleigh Woods, 23, remained calm in the dock at Warwick Crown Court as they were both unanimously convicted of killing Bethany Hill.

Both have been jailed for life with a minimum of 26year-old behind bars.

Miss Hill, who had a history of self-harm, was found dead by a police officer in a blood-drenched bathroom at a flat in Stratford-upon-Avon on February 3 last year.

A three-week trial was told that a knife was repeatedly used to cut Miss Hill's neck after her wrists were bound with duct tape - in what the prosecution alleged was a sadistic killing carried out for "perverted pleasure''.

Williams and Woods both denied murdering 20-year-old Miss Hill at their flat in Hertford Road, Stratford.

During his opening of the case against the couple, prosecutor Stephen Linehan said Miss Hill was a former girlfriend of Williams and had a "volatile'' relationship with Woods.

The Crown's QC told the court the victim was found dead after Woods dialled 999 at 7.07pm on February 3, telling the operator: "Well, my best friend is dead in my flat.''

Mr Linehan told jurors: "What she was saying was that her friend had killed herself while she was out of the flat and that she had returned to find blood everywhere, and that she had cleaned up the flat before making that telephone call.

"All of these things were lies. Bethany Hill had not died as a result of cutting herself - she had been brutally, brutally murdered.''

The court heard that Miss Hill, who was brought up in Bidford-on-Avon, near Stratford, had a brief relationship with Williams as a teenager.

Miss Hill then moved to Stratford to begin a college course, while Williams, also from the Bidford area, met Woods and moved in with her.

Before the alleged killing, the court heard, Miss Hill had also moved into the flat in Hertford Road, using the bedroom, while Woods and Williams slept in the sitting room.

A neighbour of the killers told the trial he heard moaning and what he thought was the sound of a head hitting a wall in the early hours of February 3.

The witness, who lived in a first-floor flat, told the court he also heard a cutlery drawer being opened and closed aggressively.