The couple had been married for only 16 months. (File)
In a heinous murder that has shocked the UK, a 28-year-old man stabbed his wife to death, chopped her body in over 200 pieces and stored them in his kitchen for a week before dumping them in a river with the help of a friend.
Nicholas Metson, 28, admitted on Friday to murdering his wife Holly Bramley, 26, in March 2023 after denying the allegations for over a year, even joking with police officers who came looking for her that she "might be hiding under the bed".
Metson now faces life in jail for murdering his wife.
"Got £50 for disposing of a body"
Metson likely stabbed his wife several times in the bedroom and chopped the body in the bathroom. He then put the pieces in plastic bags and stored them in a kitchen larder, a cold area for storage of food, before getting rid of them.
Almost a week later and before police arrived at his door, he paid his friend £50 to help him dispose of the body parts. "Just got £50 for disposing of a body," the friend wrote in a text message, the court was told.
A day later, plastic bags were discovered floating in the Witham river by a morning walker. One of the bags had a human hand and another Ms Bramley shaved head. In total, divers found 224 body parts with some still missing. The body was chopped in such a way that it was impossible to find a cause of death, the court was told.
"Evil monster"
Ms Bramley's mother told the court that her daughter had been married for just 16 months and the "evil monster" didn't allow her to meet her family for years and the couple were on the verge of separating when he killed her, she said.
After murdering his wife, he searched for questions like "What benefits do I get if my wife has died" and "Can someone haunt me after they die?".
Ms Bramley had once fled her home with her pet rabbits and sought police help after he killed her hamsters by putting them in a food blender and the microwave oven. He also put her new puppy in a washing machine, only for Ms Bramley to find the dead animal spinning inside the machine.
Gruesome murder
On March 24 last year, Lincolnshire Police reached the couple's home for a welfare check on Ms Bramley after receiving distress reports. When Metson answered the door, he claimed he was a victim of domestic abuse by his wife and showed the policemen a bite mark on his arm.
The wound occurred when Ms Bramley tried to free herself from her husband as she was killed a few days earlier, a UK court was told.
Policemen also found blood-soaked sheets in the bathtub, several dark sports on the floor and a strong smell of ammonia and bleach throughout the house. Metson later told police his wife had left with a women's support group a few days before.
The killer, who is to be sentenced on Monday, has not revealed how and why he killed his wife. His lawyer, however, claimed that his diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder was a factor in the murder.