Advertisement

Stepbrother Charged With Murder Of Becky Watts

The stepbrother of Bristol teen Becky Watts, 16, has been charged with her murder, Avon and Somerset Police have said.

Nathan Matthews, 28, has been identified as the teenager's stepbrother by family members.

His girlfriend Shauna Hoare, 21, who goes by the name Shauna Phillips on social media, has been charged with intending to pervert the course of justice.

Both are due before Bristol Magistrates' Court this morning.

Four men and woman, who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, remain in police custody. Officers were granted a further 24 hours to question the five, all in their 20s, by a magistrate earlier on Wednesday.

Becky disappeared from her home in Crown Hill, in the St George area of Bristol, on 19 February. Her family reported her missing the following day.

Police on Tuesday said body parts had been found at a house in the Barton Hill area of the city.

Formal identification has not yet been completed.

Mr Matthews and Ms Hoare were arrested on suspicion of Becky's kidnap on Saturday and later re-arrested on suspicion of murder.

Detectives had until this afternoon to charge or release them.

Ms Phillips was taken to hospital overnight after feeling unwell in custody, police said.

She was seen by a doctor and taken back into custody a short while later.

Becky's family members, including her uncles and aunt, have been laying tributes for the teenager at her home.

In an earlier statement her mother Tania Watts, brother Daniel and grandmother Pat said they were "at an utter loss to understand why anyone would want to hurt our beautiful Becky in such a brutal way".

On Tuesday Becky's father Darren Galsworthy and stepmother Anjie said the developments in the case were "too much to bear".

In a post about Becky's father, her aunt Sarah Broom said: "He is completely and utterly broken and there is nothing in this world of comfort to him - how does a parent ever recover from this? How can a family?"

Churches in the city, including St Luke's in Barton Hill and St Ambrose near Becky's home, have opened for mourners to pay their respects.