Bristol remembers: Becky Watts murder 10 years on
The murder of 16-year-old Becky Watts by her own step brother drew international attention
Ten years on from the murder of Becky Watts in Bristol, one of the biggest investigations Avon and Somerset Police has ever dealt with, we're hearing about the impact it is continuing to have on the community.
Becky was 16 when on 19th February 2015 she seemingly disappeared from her home in St George. The case became internationally infamous as in the weeks following it emerged she had been killed and dismembered by her step brother Nathan Matthews and his girlfriend Shauna Hoare.
Be aware, you may find some of the details below distressing.
What happened to Becky?
On this day 10 years ago Becky was at home where she lived with her dad and step mother, though at the time of her murder, both were out.
Instead, at the house with Becky were Matthews and Hoare, with Matthews having planned to try and kidnap her.
During the trial of both him and Hoare at Bristol Crown Court, a jury heard the pair had a sexual interest in petite teenage girls and the attempted kidnapping was sexually motivated.
The prosecution described how Matthews, then 28, went to Becky's home armed with stun guns and handcuffs and suffocated her in her bedroom, before stabbing her more than a dozen times.
Hoare, who gave evidence that she was in the garden at the time, then helped Matthews transport Becky's body back to their own home in Barton Hill, where they dismembered her and left her body parts in a garden shed.
The court heard how having got to their own home, the pair ordered a takeaway and watched a comedy video online titled "Do you want to hide a body?"
The following days
Initially Matthews and Hoare claimed to know nothing about Becky's disappearance, saying they had heard the front door close while they were at her house and assumed she had gone out.
In fact the next day Matthews was captured on CCTV buying a saw, which was used to dismember Becky's body, while over the next few days he and Hoare were caught on camera buying cleaning products, which the prosecution argued were used to clean the bathroom where the dismemberment took place.
Interest in Becky's disappearance was so significant that in the days before her body was discovered, the hashtag #FindBecky reached more than two million people globally on social media.
Meanwhile searches were carried out by both the police and volunteers across Barton Hill, Southmead, St George's Park and Troopers Hill Nature Reserve.
Speaking to us this week, residents in the St George area told Hits Radio they still remember this period well.
One woman said: "(I remember) a lot of people on that day walking around and I remember in a pond a lot of people looking...
"It's sad, and then you find out what happened."
At the Wackum Inn in Whitehall, we met two women who's daughters went to school with Becky.
One of them, Sharron, said: "When all the flowers and that were out we all went up to look at the flowers and my daughter laid some flowers. My daughter sent messages and photos, that type of thing, to her dad of when they were at school together."
The other, who asked not to be named, said: "When I hear helicopters go round and round and round, I still think of Becky Watts, because that's what it was like.
"You could hear helicopters going over all the time searching for her."
Sharron's daughter Chelsea agreed to speak to us about her memories.
She said: "She (Becky) always seemed quite happy, bubbly, always easy to get along with.
"It was a massive shock (her disappearance). I remember me and some friends from secondary school went out looking for her. (It) just felt like that's what we had to do."
Chelsea described "crowds of people everywhere," helping with the search.
"Then obviously when the news broke about what had happened, that was terrible," she said.
It took the jury at Bristol Crown Court less than three and a half hours to find Matthews guilty of Becky's murder and Hoare guilty of her manslaughter.
Matthews is continuing to serve a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years behind bars.
Hoare was sentenced to 17 years in prison, however in 2023 Hits Radio broke the news that she had been released on licence.
Commenting at the time, Becky's mum Tanya Watts said: "I can still see her (Shauna's) face when her and Nathan were arrested at her mums house.
"She brazenly got off the settee and walked right up to the camera and laughed, smirked.
"That cannot be forgiven Shauna."
In a statement shared exclusively with us today, Tanya said: "Rebecca Marie Watts, Becky, I remember when I had her at Southmead Hospital, all I wanted to do was walk her up and down the corridors showing her off.
"She was born on a beautiful summers day and that was Becky our little sunshine.
"I'll never forget her bravery, beauty and kind and funny ways, and most of all loyalty. We are honoured to have had her in our lives. Missed and loved everyday."