A man and a woman have been jailed for murdering 38-year-old Sarah Mayhew (pictured) and preventing her lawful burial.
Steve Sansom (45) and Gemma Watts (49) dismembered Sarah’s body and dumped it over several trips, in plain sight of the public.
Sansom of Burnell Road, Sutton, and Watts of Holmbury Grove, Croydon, were sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey on Thursday. Sansom will serve a whole life order and Watts will serve a minimum of 30 years’ imprisonment. At an earlier hearing they both pleaded guilty to murder and preventing a lawful burial.
The pair were also sentenced to five years each for perverting the course of public justice, to run concurrently.
Detective chief inspector Martin Thorpe, who led the investigation, said: “I would like to send my deepest condolences to Sarah’s family and friends. A loss is always hard, but to hear about the way Sarah spent her last moments must be heart-breaking. I commend their bravery and strength throughout this investigation; we will continue to support them should they need us.
“Secondly, I would like to commend my colleagues from across the Met. The dedication shown to this investigation, which has been complex and challenging, has been extraordinary, they worked around the clock to pull together the evidence needed to bring this case to court.
“The investigation included viewing hundreds of hours of CCTV, extensive forensic examinations within the defendants’ houses, the searching of fields and rivers, witness accounts, and reviewing the defendants’ phones. These revealed messages detailing what the defendants planned to do to Sarah, with texts and voice notes recorded by the defendants themselves, also revealing their intention to carry out violent attacks on others.
“Sarah was a young woman who had the rest of her life ahead of her, before it was selfishly taken by Sansom and Watts for their own sadistic motive.
“Their sick and twisted desires were heard in court by her family. They listened to traumatising evidence which revealed that the two enjoyed the pain and torment that they put Sarah through.” No sentence can ever bring Sarah back or compensate for her loss.”
An investigation was launched following a call to police shortly after 9am on April 2, 2024, to reports of human remains found in Rowdown Fields in Croydon.
A forensic examination revealed the remains to be of Sarah Mayhew, who was living in Croydon at the time of her death.
Shortly after the first discovery, remains were also found in Mitcham in May 2024. A further examination revealed that the remains also belonged to Sarah.
The investigation revealed messages on Sansom’s phone which showed a conversation that suggested the pair wanted to murder Sarah. The conversation revealed that Sansom was going to invite Sarah over to his house to which Watts replied “only if it’s a deal she ain’t leaving in one piece” to which Sansom added “okay”.
Further messages sent indicated a sexual and sadistic motivation.
Sarah was last seen on CCTV entering a property in Sutton on March 8, 2024 accompanied by Sansom and his dog. It is believed that Sarah was murdered on this day.
Messages were found from the same date sent by Sansom who was trying to justify what they had done. The message to Watts said “we’re not evil, we’re not evil”.
Two days later, Sansom was captured on CCTV in a retail shop purchasing a hacksaw, blades and a bucket.
The pair then began their attempt to clean-up the crime scene and conceal their involvement in the murder. Watts was seen on CCTV in a retail shop buying multiple cleaning products such as bleach and scourers, a receipt was later recovered for these following a search of her property.
Further intelligence found that as well as the cleaning products, a silver incinerator bin was purchased to burn Sarah’s personal belongings, which were never recovered.
Officers discovered that Sansom and Watts travelled to and from Rowdown Fields using public transport on March 11, 2024 while carrying oversized shopping bags, which they appeared to have struggled to carry.
In April, parts of Sarah’s body were found in the same location.
It was also found that the pair travelled to the River Wandle with a suitcase. CCTV showed them returning from their journey with no suitcase. Sarah’s torso was then found in May in the same location.
Following the discovery of Sarah’s remains in April, Sansom was arrested at his home address on 6 April 2024 and Watts was arrested later on the same day.
A search of Sansom’s house found traces of blood in the same black bucket he had earlier purchased.
A forensic detection dog also indicated areas of interest, one being the bottom of a wall in Sansom’s bedroom – testing revealed extensive amounts of blood.
They were charged on April 9, 2024 and sentenced yesterday.
