by An “evil monster” chopped his wife’s body into more than 200 pieces and then paid a friend £50 to help dump her remains in a river.
Nicholas Metson, 28, stabbed Holly Bramley, 26, at least four times in March 2023 before dismembering her and storing her body for a week in the kitchen larder at the flat they shared in Shuttleworth House, Stamp End, Lincoln.
Lincoln Crown Court heard that Metson tried to cover up what he had done by buying large quantities of cleaning products and enlisted his school friend Joshua Hancock, 28, to help move the body parts to the River Witham in Bassingham by paying £50 offer him to help him. post”.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC told the court on Friday that the “twisting and barbaric” way Metson hacked his wife into at least 224 separate pieces “went far beyond what was required to move the body “.
Ms Bramley’s remains, which she initially thought were those of an animal until she noticed a human hand, were found by a member of the public in the river on the evening of March 25 – more than a week after she was last seen entering her flat . on March 17.
The court heard that some of Ms Bramley’s remains, including parts of her heart, have not been found.
Before her remains were found and while Ms Bramley was missing, Lincolnshire police attended the flat they shared, with Metson telling them his wife had left their home on March 19 with two members of a local mental health crisis team. .
Officers noticed a “strong smell of bleach and ammonia” in the apartment, saw a saw on a towel, blood-stained sheets in her bathroom and a large amount of blood on her bedroom floor.
After learning what Metson had told them about his wife’s disappearance, he was arrested and charged with her murder and perverting the course of justice.
A search of his cell phone revealed that Metson had done Google searches including “How to get rid of a dead body”, “What benefits can I get if my wife dies” and “Does God condone murder “.
He had also sent a message to Hancock, of Walnut Close in Waddington, in the early hours of March 25 offering him money in exchange for help with a “job”.
Hancock was arrested on April 5 and charged with obstructing a coroner.
In the days after his wife’s murder, Metson used her Facebook account to message her friends and trick them into thinking she was still alive.
He tried to convince them that she had left him and moved to Manchester, sending money herself from her bank account.
An extensive CCTV search showed Metson moving a large number of bags from his 14th floor flat into a lift before loading them into his yellow Peugeot in the early hours of March 25.
Metson, who initially denied murdering his wife but changed his plea to guilty on February 23, and Hancock, who pleaded guilty to disposing of a body with intent to obstruct or prevent a coroner’s inquest at same hearing, against members of Ms Bramley’s distraught family. in court on Friday.
Calling him an “evil monster” who convinced his wife her family was abusive, Miss Bramley’s mother Annette said her family had suffered “unimaginable pain”.
Describing her daughter as “beautiful, kind and loving”, she said: “These last pain-filled hours will haunt us forever.
“Her life was taken by someone who has no regard for human life.
“We were forbidden to see Holly in the years leading up to her murder. We were forbidden to see her before her death and because of his terrible actions, he made sure that we were forbidden to see her after her death.
“Holly will always be in our hearts, we will never forget her and the impact she had on our lives.”
Speaking to Metson in the dock, Ms Bramley said: “Your actions have forced me to serve a life sentence of sadness, I’m sure it will be a full life sentence.
“I pray to God that you will find the same.”
Bramley’s sister Sarah-Jayne Lindop said: “You stole Holly’s life in March 2023, but you stole her from our lives many years before that.
“You took her from a caring and loving family and on the occasions when she made her way back home or when you told her she wasn’t good enough or she wasn’t good enough, you lured her back using the what she wanted most. world – to be a mother.
“We are damaged people who have lived for the last 12 months as shells of who we were before.
“We have lost all hope of ever getting our Cullen home, you carelessly took her life and threw her away like she was nothing, when she was everything to us.
“Our injury is as raw as it probably always will be. It affected us so much to lose her in such a cruel and brutal way and many of us needed specialist help to recover.
“I regret the day you ever laid eyes on our sister.”
Allison Summers KC, defending Metson, said in mitigation that he had an autism spectrum disorder which would hamper his self-control and cause him “certain additional difficulties” in prison.
She said: “This is someone with moderate autism. It is a significant neurological disorder, along with learning difficulties.
“This is a young man with these particular problems and this is clearly someone who is socially isolated and works in bubbles for the most part, despite his unique appearance.
“He doesn’t make friends and can’t see the world from anyone’s point of view but himself.
“For all the horrors this man has done, he is still a vulnerable man and that is why Holly was his designated carer.
“Someone can be vulnerable and someone who does something terrible and terrible. Because prison is as difficult as it is for many people, he will have significant difficulties.
“He won’t have escaped from the family he doesn’t seem to have shown any remorse.
“With his autism and other disorders, he has a very limited capacity for remorse, he has great difficulty empathizing with others and reading other people’s emotions.”
Raglan Ashton, defending Hancock, said: “Mr Hancock regrets his involvement and part in the incident.
“His participation was limited – he starts with some messages that Metson sent him asking him to do a job for him.
“In my submission, it is continuous in terms of that request and several other messages follow the message. He repeats that request.
“Mr Hancock did not know what that job entailed. He was getting into an activity he wasn’t meant to do.
“There are also mental health issues with Mr Hancock. He has autism, ADHD and is classified as below average in cognitive functioning.
“He acknowledges the pain and the pain felt by the family and he’s devastated.”
Judge Simon Hirst said: “It will be hugely frustrating for Holly’s family that they will never be told how and why Holly died.”
He adjourned sentencing for both men until Monday.
