Cops Never Expected WHO The Suspect Turned Out To Be. The Wild Story Of Becky Watts

It’s really hot anyway, cuz of the microwave. >> at home in Bristol before she disappeared. The 16-year-old is described by her family as quiet and shy. >> She’s your typical teenage girl. Loves her selfies, music, fashion. >> Becky’s father and stepmother told me today that her disappearance is completely out of character, and they are desperate for news.

>> But if you can see that get in contact. And if anyone out there knows of her, just tell us. Just bring her home safe. If you’ve got her, then put her somewhere we can find her. We want her home. Please. >> She’s not in trouble. She’s She just wanted here. We just want her back. That’s all we want. >> [music] >> Friday, February 20th, 2015, 4:00 p.m.

A 999 call comes in. The call that’s about to consume an entire city. >> 999 emergency, how can I help? >> Um my stepdaughter has gone missing. >> And no one has seen her? No. >> No. We phoned around the family, all her friends have contacted us and asked where she is, and none of them know. >> What’s her name? >> [music] >> Uh Rebecca Watts.

>> 16-year-old Rebecca Watts, known to everyone as Becky, hasn’t been seen by her family since the previous morning. She walked out of her home in Crown Hill, Bristol, with nothing but her tablet, her phone, and her laptop. No spare clothes, no note, no explanation. She isn’t answering calls. She isn’t answering texts.

And that, more than anything, is what has her family terrified. Because this isn’t Becky. Just the day before, she’d spoken to a close friend and seemed completely herself. Nothing off, nothing unusual, no sign she was planning to run, no reason to think she wouldn’t come home. Everyone who knew her agreed on the same thing.

Becky Watts didn’t just vanish. But she had. What starts as a missing person’s report is about to become one of the largest investigations Avon and Somerset police have ever run. And before it’s over, the truth will be closer to home than anyone could have imagined. This is the story of Becky Watts. If you’re watching this true crime documentary for the first time, hit subscribe and drop a comment telling us where you’re tuning in from because what happens next is going to stay with you.

Becky Watts was born on June 3rd, 1998 to parents Darren and Tanya. Though by the time she came into the world, her mom and dad had already split up. Her early years were spent with her mother, but concerns over neglect eventually led to her being taken into care. Not long after, she and her older brother Dan moved in with their father, Darren, and that’s where home really became home.

 Those who knew her describe a girl who was bubbly and feisty with a sharp sense of humor, confident and full of life around people she trusted, though quieter and more reserved at school. Her teacher remembered her as caring, kind, and big-hearted. She didn’t run with a huge crowd, but the friends she had, she adored. And they adored her right back.

Darren would go on to start a relationship with a woman named Angie, who had a son of her own, Nathan. When Darren and Angie married in 2013, Nathan stood as best man, and Becky served as a bridesmaid alongside Nathan’s girlfriend, Shauna. It was a day meant to bring two families together. Less than 2 years later, that same family would be torn apart because Becky was gone.

Within hours of the 999 call, Becky’s father posted a desperate plea on Facebook. Please, if anyone has seen or heard from my daughter, just let me know. She went missing Thursday the 19th at 11:15 a.m. on her way to meet her boyfriend and never arrived. He came looking for her here. She hasn’t been seen since, not by any of her friends.

Police have started a search. I’m really scared. I want her home. Detective Chief Inspector Richard O’Connell said what troubled investigators most wasn’t just that Becky was missing. It was the silence. She was a teenager who stayed in constant contact with her friends online, and yet her social media had gone completely dark.

No posts, no messages, nothing. For police, that silence spoke louder than words. Within a day, the story wasn’t just local news anymore. It had reached national headlines, and the whole country was watching. >> Becky Watts, who’s 16, was last seen at her Bristol >> It’s 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. >> It’s 5 days since Becky left her home in the St. George area of Bristol with just her laptop and a phone. Police say nobody has heard from her since then. >> Friends, family, and the people that are really dearest to her that I would expect to have regular contact with, at least one of those people, we’ve had no contact with her.

 So, we really are very concerned about her well-being. >> Police have searched open ground close to Becky’s home, but say there have been no significant finds or breakthroughs. Five days on, detectives and the schoolgirl’s family are mystified by her sudden disappearance. >> By Wednesday, February 25th, Becky’s family had been asked to leave their home so investigators could search the property properly.

 Still, there was no trace of her. Six search teams fanned out across the area, combing through nearby woodland, checking three separate houses, and calling in reinforcements from the College of Policing and the National Crime Agency. A helicopter was brought in to scan from above. Troopers Hill Nature Reserve was searched. A local lake was dragged.

Nothing. Online, the hashtag findbecky was spreading fast, and police leaned into it, using Twitter to keep the public updated and the pressure on. But behind the scenes, investigators were doing something just as important, trying to piece together exactly who Becky was and who was around her in her final hours.

They spoke to her stepmother, Angie. >> Shauna heard the door go. So, I she was assuming it was Becky going out. >> Yeah. >> So, I’m assuming it was Becky going out. >> Okay. No one saw her go, but just heard the door go. >> And they assumed that Becky had left the house. >> They spoke to Shauna, and then they turned to the two people who’d reportedly been among the last to see her, her stepbrother, Nathan Matthews, and his girlfriend, Shauna Hall.

Getting them in for an interview wasn’t easy. Officers had a hard time pinning them down at first, but eventually, both agreed to come to the station. Shauna described the day Becky was last seen. >> I think we got there about 11:00-ish, heard music upstairs. Assumed Becky had been in then. >> Mhm. >> Um I went into the kitchen to get a cigarette.

Went to go outside to have a cigarette. My daughter had already went to drink. She wanted to come up with me, so I took her down to the garden to help feed the rabbit while I had a cigarette. Um probably was about 15-20 minutes. Um then we came back up. I went into the kitchen to get a drink.

 I think I was washing my hands. >> Mhm. >> Then I heard the front door slam. And then I think it was like two hours lot on that Angie asked me if Becky had gone out and I said yeah, I heard the door go. She must have gone out earlier. I washed my hands I think. I heard the door slam. >> Uh >> front door. Um again I didn’t look at the time or think anything of it so I didn’t really kind of like oh what was that? Just It was just the door so I Becky must have gone out.

>> I’ve accidentally got this in the wrong order here. That was kind of like this so All right, let me just go back slightly then if I could. The door slamming then, you’ve got to get from the kitchen through to the living room. So how far away from that front door would you be? >> Um but you’ve got the front door, living room and about halfway up the hallway >> Mhm.

>> is the kitchen. >> Mhm. >> So I would have been at the sink. So I don’t know the distance. A reasonable amount you could say. >> Okay. Immediately before this time of the door slamming, what could you hear then? >> Um I think it was just TV noises again to be honest. I was kind of more, you know, trying to make sure I had my vitamins back and get my drink.

>> Yeah. >> Um No, I heard stomping down the stairs. Cuz that’s what made me think that Becky left in a mood. So I said to Angie cuz I said door slammed I wasn’t sure if that was the wind. >> Mhm. >> I took it because there was like quite stomp stomp stomp downstairs. I assumed maybe she was in one of her tantrums.

>> Yeah. >> Nathan gave his account too, recalling hearing the front door slam shut. >> You were thinking that’s the front door that slammed. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, okay. Um and who did you think that was then? >> Well, Becky. >> So I mean I think what we’ll do is we’ll probably wrap the interview up. And um we’ve just been talking for 2 hours it’s quite a long time.

>> My back’s killing me. >> I know. >> On paper it looked like two people simply telling the truth, but something about it didn’t sit right with investigators. Shauna came across as strangely upbeat, almost giggly. Nathan seemed detached, unbothered. And then there was the detail that stood out most of all. Their stories matched too closely.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard O’Connell would later explain that when two people witness the same event independently, their accounts almost never line up perfectly. Small details usually clash, memories shift, things get out of order. But Nathan and Shauna’s stories fit together seamlessly. To investigators, that wasn’t a sign of honesty.

It was a sign they’d rehearsed it. >> The search for Becky Watts continued today. Family and friends scouring the parkland and woods near her Bristol home, hopeful they’ll find the 16-year-old safe and well. >> Volunteers turned out in droves. Posters went up across the city. Search parties combed every corner they could reach, and nobody was willing to stop.

Not until Becky was found. Nine days had now passed since anyone had seen her, and police made the call to bring in the specialized investigation unit. Their focus turned back to one place, Becky’s own house. A forensics team moved through the property looking for anything that might point to where she’d gone.

And they found something. Traces of forensic evidence turned up on the door frame of Becky’s bedroom, enough to warrant urgent testing. While the results were being processed, investigators called Nathan and Shauna back in for a second round of interviews. >> How has he Nathan had any sort of concerns about speaking to us? >> Not that he’s told me now.

>> No. >> No. >> Okay. >> If he does, I wouldn’t know >> [laughter] >> Yes. How is he finding it? >> I mean, he’s found it quite hard, actually. Again, he’s kind of more thinking, like, God, if it would or again, knowing how hard it’d be for his mom at the moment. >> You know, because Becky was almost like a daughter a daughter to them.

>> Yeah. >> And then over the weekend, have you have either you and him been involved in searching for Becky or doing any >> wasn’t aware they were doing a search. I didn’t realize until um I think it was yesterday. >> Yeah. >> on my Facebook and off of there, there was news articles and pictures popped up on they did the search.

>> Mhm. >> This time, Shauna’s account had shifted. She now said Nathan had been struggling with the situation. A departure from the composed, unbothered version she’d given before. >> And particularly talked to her about Obviously, I don’t particularly like her. And obviously, what annoys me is the way she speaks to like my mom sometimes.

>> Mhm. >> She’d be kind of like rude or whatever. I’m trying to think of an actual specific time. >> Investigators felt something was off, but without confirmed evidence, they didn’t have grounds to hold him. That was about to change. The forensic results came back from Becky’s door frame, and they were a match.

The traces belonged to her stepbrother, Nathan Matthews. It would still be hours before every result was fully confirmed, but police made a decision. The moment the evidence held up, they would move immediately to an arrest. Then the final confirmation came through. The forensic evidence was tied directly to Becky.

Saturday, February 28th, 2015. Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hall were brought in for questioning at a house in Bristol. >> And just wait there, buddy. Don’t worry too much. >> You can tell me >> 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 okay? >> Just put your hands out like that for me, all right.

>> This true crime documentary is about to take you into exactly who these two people were and why the truth had been sitting closer to home than anyone wanted to believe. To understand what happened, investigators had to understand Nathan Matthews. And his history with the family went back much further than anyone realized.

Nathan was 10 years older than Becky, and he’d known her since she was just 2 years old, back when his mother first started dating Darren. But his relationship with Darren was never an easy one. Nathan didn’t want anyone interfering in his and his mother’s world. He got along fine with Becky’s brother Dan.

 The two would play video games together. But he and Becky were never close. He didn’t even live in the family home. He stayed nearby with his grandmother, visiting his mother and stepfamily from time to time. One incident from years earlier had stuck with Darren. When Nathan was 19, he once showed up at the house with several children in his car who were clearly too young to be there unsupervised.

Darren refused to let them inside and told Nathan, in no uncertain terms, to take every one of them home immediately. Then there was how Nathan treated Becky during one of the hardest stretches of her life. As a teenager, she went through a serious health scare, growing weaker, fainting, frightening her entire family.

Nathan’s response was to dismiss it outright, calling it attention-seeking. It took Becky a full year to recover. In 2008, when Nathan was 21, he brought a new girlfriend home, Shauna Hall. He told his family she was older than she really was. In truth, she was still a minor, and Darren wasn’t fooled. He told him to take her home, too.

 He’d fought hard to get his kids out of the care system, and he wasn’t about to risk that stability for anyone. Still, Nathan and Shauna stayed together. They’d go on to have a daughter of their own. And Darren never quite trusted her. He’d later say there was always something about Shauna he couldn’t put his finger on.

Once Nathan and Shauna were brought back in by police, the interviews changed. Investigators let Nathan talk freely at first, building his confidence before shifting to a far more direct, pointed line of questioning. >> You were at the address at the time that Rebecca or Becky, I think most people know >> As in Becky.

>> Or Bex. >> Yeah, okay. Do you know if it was Becky or Bex? >> Uh usually call her Bex. >> What we’re most interested in is finding Becky. Yeah? That That’s what the police want to do. >> Yeah. >> While Nathan was being questioned, investigators turned their attention to Shauna, working through her version of events in parallel.

>> Everything seemed normal. Nothing seemed wrong, and I think, you know, it all seemed good. The same as it would on any other day. >> Have you got any concerns or suspicions that Nathan or any other member of your family or extended family >> [music] >> might be responsible for her disappearance? >> No. No. No.

>> Is there anything that happened that could be significant in the disappearance of Rebecca? >> No. >> Are you absolutely sure? >> Yes. >> I know you’ve got something to tell us. >> No. >> 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 I don’t know. >> At the same time, a forensics team was sent out to the house where she and Nathan actually lived. What they found inside was chaos. Every room was cluttered, disorganized, mess piled on mess. The kind of home that told investigators the couple wasn’t exactly house proud. But one detail stopped the search team cold.

 Upstairs, the bathroom told a completely different story. While the rest of the property was in disarray, the bathtub was spotless, scrubbed clean, almost shining. It didn’t fit, not even close. >> [music] >> Police have been given more time to question two people in connection with the disappearance of 16-year-old [music] Becky Watts. >> Investigators made a deliberate choice.

They wouldn’t tell Nathan or Shauna what they’d found, or how far the case had actually progressed. For the next 2 days, the forensics team kept working through the property, piece by piece. A slow, painstaking process given the state of the house. Then they got the break they needed. Two small receipts from the hardware store B&Q.

The date, Friday, February 20th. The very same day Becky had been reported missing. The receipts showed a purchase of protective equipment and cleaning supplies. CCTV footage from the store sealed it. Nathan was the one who’d bought them. That was enough. Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hall were arrested a second time, this time in direct connection to Becky’s disappearance.

 The moment police confirmed Nathan and Shauna were connected to the case, they had to deliver devastating news to Becky’s family. This was no longer just a missing person’s case. It was now a high-profile criminal investigation, and everyone involved knew what that likely meant. Becky’s father, Darren, would later say that in that exact moment, his entire world began to cave in on itself.

Word spread fast, and the city responded. Flowers piled up in tribute to Becky. Near the family home, St. Ambrose Church opened its doors late into the night, letting people come in to light candles and add their names to a book of remembrance. The timing made it even harder to bear. Becky had lost her life on her brother Dan’s 20th birthday.

Behind the scenes, investigators were playing a careful game. They deliberately withheld the fact that they’d already recovered the B&Q receipts, instead telling Nathan and Shauna only that their house had been forensically searched, leaving both of them to sit with the uncertainty of exactly what police had found.

It was pressure by design. Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015. That pressure was about to break wide open, because later that night, a statement would come through from Nathan Matthews himself. And when it was read aloud, he wouldn’t even be able to listen to his own words. At 10:26 p.m., a statement was delivered to police from Nathan Matthews, read through his lawyer.

Nathan couldn’t bring himself to hear it. He stuck his fingers in his ears, refusing to listen as his own words were read aloud in the room. The statement began, “I, Nathan Charles Matthews, accept responsibility for what happened to Rebecca Watts on the 19th of February, 2015.

” He described driving to Crown Hill with Shauna, bringing items from his car with a plan already in his head. An idea, he said, to frighten Becky and confront her over long-simmering family tension. He believed she was being selfish, and that her behavior was putting strain on his mother. According to his account, Shauna stepped out to the garden for a cigarette while he went upstairs, knocked on Becky’s door, and asked to speak with her for a minute.

What followed, in his words, escalated fast. Becky saw his face during the confrontation, and in that moment, everything spiraled into tragedy. But the statement didn’t end there. It went on to describe how, in the aftermath, Nathan had worked to erase what had happened, which finally explained the one detail that had bothered investigators from the very start.

That bathtub, scrubbed spotless in an otherwise chaotic house. They’d been right to notice it. >> We attended at a house at Barton Court in the Barton Hill area of Bristol. The information suggested that Becky’s body had been cut up, and a search at the new location resulted in the discovery of body parts. Although formal identification procedures have not yet been completed, we have made Becky’s family aware of this discovery.

As a result of this latest development, a further three men and two women have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They remain in police custody at this time, as do the man and woman arrested on suspicion of Becky’s murder. This is devastating news for Becky’s family and friends, and our thoughts are with them.

We will continue to offer every support we can to them during this terrible ordeal. >> After 12 days of hunting for Becky Watts, a private ambulance leaves the scene of a grim discovery. The find in a garden and terraced home on a small estate in Bristol was made by detectives last night. It was the outcome the teenager’s family had prepared themselves for and feared most.

>> Further examination would later confirm that in her final moments, Becky tried everything she could to get away. It was a detail that stayed with the investigators who worked this case for the rest of their careers. For the officers who had searched tirelessly to bring her home, this was about the most devastating outcome imaginable.

And it marked one of the largest investigations Avon and Somerset Police had ever undertaken. Even with Nathan’s statement in hand, police weren’t convinced they had the whole picture. They wanted to dig deeper. And more importantly, they wanted to know exactly how big a role Shauna Hoare had actually played.

When investigators sat her down, Shauna was firm. She claimed the first she’d learn that Nathan was responsible was the day before when he gave his prepared statement. >> What’s your knowledge of him killing Becky? >> Found out yesterday morning. We found out yesterday morning. Um prior to that, I had no idea.

That you had any involvement in anything at all. >> And how do we know you weren’t involved in this the killing of Becky? >> Proof. There would be no proof. >> Mhm. >> I haven’t touched anything or been anywhere near her alive or dead. >> According to her, she’d had no idea what he’d done until he told her himself.

 But the full account, the one that would eventually be laid out in court, painted a very different picture. And it started on an ordinary Thursday morning that would end up changing everything. Thursday, February 19th, 2015. 10:50 a.m. Becky arrives home after spending the night at a friend’s house. Not long after, Shauna and Nathan set off toward her house, stopping first at the Tesco to pick up batteries.

They know Becky will be home alone. Angie has a hospital appointment that morning. Normally, Nathan parks out on the road. This time, he reverses the car into the driveway, boot facing the front door. 11:03 a.m. Becky sends her last text message to her boyfriend saying she’s listening to music. He doesn’t hear from her again.

Somewhere in the hour that follows, an altercation takes place inside the house. By the time it’s over, everything about that day and every day after it has changed. And Becky is no longer there. 12:45 p.m. Angie returns home. Nathan and Shauna act as if nothing happened. 5:00 p.m.

 Becky’s boyfriend shows up at the house worried he hasn’t heard back from her. Shauna answers the door, makes a show of checking Becky’s room, and tells him she isn’t there. He speaks with Darren and Angie, and Angie agrees it isn’t like Becky to go quiet like this. 7:00 p.m. With evidence still sitting in the car outside, Nathan and Shauna finally head home.

Once there, they begin trying to cover their tracks. They order pizza and Chinese food like it’s any other evening. Then Nathan invents an excuse, a friend supposedly needing help, and leaves the house. His actual destination, the hardware store, B&Q. Friday, February 20th, 2015. 12:20 p.m. Nathan Matthews stops at a shop and buys two bottles of cleaning supplies.

From there, he heads to B&Q and picks up protective equipment and tools. 3:10 p.m. Shauna sends him a text, “What time you finish work lol?” 3:50 p.m. Nathan replies. 10 minutes later at 4:00 p.m., the 999 call goes out. Becky Watts is officially reported missing. That same day, Shauna shares Darren’s Facebook post, the one begging for his daughter to come home.

6:35 p.m. Police arrive at the house to speak with Darren, Angie, Nathan, and Shauna. Both Nathan and Shauna tell officers the same thing. They heard Becky leave the house the morning before. By 9:00 p.m., the two of them are back home settling in to watch a video. One investigators would later examine closely.

The following day, February 21st, Nathan and Shauna visit an Asda and buy a range of household supplies. The day after that, they make another round of stops around town, picking up a few more household items at one shop, then another, before their last stop of the day. On February 23rd, police return to their house hoping to speak with them again.

This time, nobody answers the door. That evening at 4:38 p.m., a phone belonging to the couple is used to search “Find Becky Watts” on Google. Two minutes later, Shauna calls her estranged mother, someone she hasn’t spoken to in 4 years, to arrange a visit that same night. Then, in the early hours of February 24th, at 2:19 a.m.

, CCTV captures a white van driving from Cotton Mill Lane toward the location where evidence would later be discovered. Investigators would come to believe that vehicle played a critical role in the case. >> All right, what was the question? I mean >> About the the idea that you got, you said it might have been something on TV or you had a dream.

>> Well, it was that I came up with the idea to scare her. Cuz like to try and basically make her more appreciative of life so she’d be more appreciative for other people. She’d be like grateful that, you know, she wasn’t harmed or anything like that or, you know, cuz obviously um she’d leave things out on the floor for my mom to trip over.

And obviously we’d talk to her. Um like saying nasty comments and putting her like there on the floor. And I thought I’d be able to focus and able to scare her. And obviously her not be harmed, obviously be released. Obviously she got back she obviously would have been scared and more appreciative of things. >> So, tell me what you thought you were going to do.

>> Obviously, stick her in the suitcase. Obviously, put tape around her mouth so she wouldn’t make any noise. But, um the plan was obviously once I got her in the car to make up some up to say to say to Shauna um obviously I had to leave like to help someone do something some up. I was thinking of like a wooded area or whatever.

Obviously, take her back out. Obviously, still have the mask on. And obviously, like scare her and you know, say some along the lines of, you know, you’ve got to start treating people um start treating people better and then not being a [ __ ] or self-centered. And then I’d make a threat of um you know, or you know, or this could happen again or worse or something like that.

 And I hadn’t figured out exactly how to obviously walk like obviously walk away after without obviously letting her if she tried to follow. I’m assuming she wouldn’t have followed because of out of fear you wouldn’t want to follow someone who just obviously has done that. And obviously, would have come back. Well, I would have obviously um chucked away obviously everything first and then come back.

And obviously, would have acted as normal. Like come back to me mum’s. Obviously, acted as normal. >> As Nathan continued giving his account investigators noticed something shift in him. The full weight of what he’d done seemed to be settling in piece by piece. Meanwhile, Shauna was still being questioned separately, sticking to her version of events.

>> I don’t know why. And what else? She hurt him with a speech. Speech isn’t a reason that you should or shouldn’t believe me. Um I can just obviously tell you that I genuinely have no idea. And yeah, I didn’t always like Becky, but she was a nice enough girl. She was so young. And the fact that we’ve got a little girl ourselves.

>> [clears throat] >> I’m carrying his unborn children. I can’t understand why he could have done it to us. >> [clears throat] >> After 96 hours of interviews, Nathan Matthews was formally charged in connection with his step-sister’s death. Shauna was a different story. At this stage, investigators still didn’t have enough to charge her with murder.

 Instead, she was charged with perverting the course of justice while police kept building the case against her. Over the following 8 weeks, investigators tore through every piece of digital evidence they could find. Phone records, computers, search histories. The breakthrough came from Shauna’s own phone. A string of deleted messages between her and Nathan had been recovered.

 Messages that talked about keeping someone hidden. Internet activity on their devices told its own story, too. >> So, the first message is uh 9th of 12th, 2014, uh timed at 12:48, and it says to Shauna, and um it says, “Fuck you. Bring me back two pretty school girls, then.” D1, I think that says. Tell me about that text message.

 Any comment? Next message is 9th December, 2014, at 18:14. It says from Shauna, “Just went to Costco’s and saw a very and cats pretty pretty petite girl. Almost knocked her out to bring her home. lol and as Cosco says and zeros. Shawna Walkley tell me about that. No comment. Am I right in thinking that this girl was similar to Rebecca’s age? No comment.

>> Then came the forensic confirmation that closed the loop. A bag containing key evidence carried Shauna’s DNA and so did one of the other items recovered during the search. On June 22nd, Shauna Hall was formally charged in connection with Becky Watts’ death. Becky’s funeral was held at St. Ambrose Church on April 17th.

 The service itself was open to the public though her burial remained private. Mourners lined the streets as her coffin passed by on a horse-drawn carriage and a single white dove was released as she was carried out. A small, quiet moment of grace in the middle of so much grief. On October 6th, 2015, the trial of Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hall began at Bristol Crown Court.

It was there that Becky’s family learned something for the first time that 2 years before her death, Becky had confided in a friend about disturbing things Nathan had once said to her. She’d never told her own family. The court also heard from people who’d known Nathan during his time in the Territorial Army after starting out as a cadet adding new layers to the picture jurors were being asked to consider.

>> During his trial, members of the Territorial Army gave evidence in court and gave a glimpse into a man with few acquaintances and even fewer friends. He had a cheeky confidence, said his former cadet instructor, but by the time he joined the Territorial Army, his temper was beginning to show.

 One witness said he would sometimes snap, sometimes throw things in frustration. >> As the trial went on, details emerged about behavior investigators considered significant to the case. Prosecutor William Moseley QC told the court that beyond an apparent dislike of Rebecca Watts, there was reason to believe another factor was at play behind what had happened.

 Shauna, for her part, told the court she was entirely innocent, insisting she’d been intimidated by her boyfriend throughout. The prosecution pushed back hard, arguing the two of them had acted as a team from the very beginning. Shauna’s estranged mother also took the stand, recalling the moment Shauna had suddenly wanted to reconnect after Becky’s death.

She testified that she’d told Shauna, half in disbelief, “I know why you’re at my house all the time. You’re running from the police because of what happened to Becky.” Then it was time for the jury to deliberate. >> Good afternoon to you and welcome to BBC News. [music] The stepbrother of the schoolgirl Becky Watts has been found guilty of her murder.

 28-year-old Nathan Matthews suffocated 16-year-old Becky while trying to kidnap her from her home in Bristol in February. Her dismembered body was found in a garden shed. His girlfriend Shauna Hoare was acquitted of murder today, but found guilty of manslaughter. >> After just 3 hours of deliberation, the jury returned. Shauna Hoare was found guilty of serious criminal offenses connected to the case.

Nathan Matthews was found guilty on every charge brought against him. The sentences came down hard. >> Finally, justice has been done for beautiful Becky. >> After hearing weeks of harrowing evidence about how the schoolgirl was killed, her family gave their reactions to today’s verdicts. >> Now the formalities have been concluded, we can begin the process of grieving properly and rebuilding our lives.

 Lives that could never, ever be the same. >> Listening, Becky’s dad, Darren, and his wife, Angie. They now know that his daughter was murdered by her son. >> Shauna Hoare received 17 years in prison. Nathan Matthews was handed a substantial sentence with a minimum term of 33 years before any chance of release.

 As he was led away to begin serving it, he couldn’t bring himself to look at his own family. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor. >> Today is brought to a conclusion six weeks of sometimes harrowing evidence. Obviously, in terms of my team, it’s been seven or eight months of investigation. This has taken an awfully long time. It’s been extremely complex.

I think certainly in respect to the evidence, it’s been very disturbing at times. Yes. >> Disturbing too for the judge who had tears in his eyes as he paid tribute to Becky’s family. >> The judges are as a human being and as we’ve already described the evidence is extremely difficult difficult to listen to in places.

>> In a statement, her mother, Tanya Watts, said, “My beautiful, kind, funny, loving, loyal, feisty, creative daughter has been murdered. Every day has been a living nightmare. It’s like the worst of all horror movies, but this is real. This is my child. She was only 16. How am I meant to cope with that?” Now, as her family try to rebuild their lives, Nathan Matthews will be in his 60s before he’ll be considered for release, but the reality is, the judge said, “That may never happen.

” >> In June 2016, both Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare lost their appeals. Their convictions stood. Following Becky’s death, a serious case review was commissioned by the Bristol Safeguarding Children Board. Its conclusion, the events that unfolded could not have been foreseen. But it also raised a hard truth that not enough attention had been paid to Becky’s wider family circle, including her stepbrother and his girlfriend.

 The report noted that Becky’s own anxiety and occasional difficult behavior had, in fact, been a response to pressures coming from Nathan Matthews all along. Darren would go on to write a book about his daughter titled Becky the heartbreaking story of Becky Watts. In one interview, he said his anger toward Nathan never faded.

 If anything, he carried it so that no one else in his family would have to. The toll of losing Becky showed up in every part of his life. The stress alone caused him to lose a significant amount of weight and there were stretches where he could barely keep anything down. And yet, through all of it, his marriage to Angie held together.

They stayed committed to one another and to rebuilding whatever they could. The community around them didn’t look away, either. Support poured in from every direction. Neighbors, strangers, people who’d never met Becky but felt her loss all the same. >> The My love for her is immense. It really is. It’s a weight I bring.

I know I I’ve lost a couple of members of family because I wouldn’t turn on her. I will never desert her. Never. If this [music] doesn’t break us up, then nothing’s going to. >> In the end, Becky Watts is remembered less for how her story ended and more for who she was before it did. >> TWO, ONE. >> A BALLOON LAUNCH WAS organized to remember Becky, to show her family she would never be forgotten.

A march followed which brought the center of Bristol to a virtual standstill. Minute silences were held at football matches. For her family, the attention was hard but made them feel less alone. Just a few weeks ago, a baby apple tree was planted for Becky in this local park, a symbol of growth and hope. >> What I saw, you saw right from the beginning was a coming together of this community with a genuine concern and wanting to support the family in any way they could.

>> Her own family put it best. She was like a tornado, a hurricane, and a sunbeam all wrapped into one. She had a way of walking into a room and making everyone in it feel more alive. That’s the story of Becky Watts. A true crime documentary that started with a single 999 call and then ended up exposing something far darker inside her own family.

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