Metropolitan PoliceA “bloodthirsty” couple planned and conducted the murder of a 38-year-old woman and then dismembered her body, a court has heard.
Steven Sansom, 45, from Sutton, and Gemma Watts, 49, from Croydon, have both pleaded guilty to murdering Sarah Mayhew last year and perverting the course of justice.
At the Old Bailey, prosecutor Tom Little KC said it was a killing that involved sexual and “sadistic” conduct.
Sansom previously served nearly 20 years for the 1998 murder of taxi driver Terence Boyle and is now facing a whole life jail sentence.
In a statement read to the court, Ms Mayhew’s father, David Mayhew, said: “I ask myself the same question all the time ‘why did you have to kill her?’ Maybe I will never know.”
He thanked the killers for pleading guilty to murder and sparing him and the family the ordeal of having to go through a trial.
“That said, whatever sentence you receive will never compare to the pain you have caused us,” he said.
Ms Mayhew’s mother, Angela, said she missed her “beautiful, pretty girl”.
“It breaks my heart she is not around, I miss Sarah all the time,” she said.
Warning: The following story contains distressing details
Alexandra Healy KC, the defence barrister for Sansom, said he accepted a whole life order was appropriate in this case, even though he had pleaded guilty.
Before the murder, the killers exchanged “depraved” messages detailing a desire to kill people with a knife or knives while engaged in sexual activity.
Ms Mayhew had accompanied Sansom to his flat in Burnell Road, Sutton, at about 23:00 GMT on 8 March 2024.
“From that point in time she was never seen again and she never left that property alive,” said Mr Little.
“How long she lived for only the defendants know and they have never said.
“What precisely happened to her body after she had been murdered by them in the property only the defendants know.”
Ms Mayhew’s head and limbs were found more than eight miles (nearly 13km) away in Rowdown Field in New Addington on 2 April, the court heard.
Her torso was discovered later in the River Wandle.
‘Sado-masochistic violence’
She had been living at Friars Wood in Croydon at the time of her death and knew both Sansom and Watts, Mr Little said.
Messages between the killers indicated that Ms Mayhew introduced them to each other in the summer of 2023.
By the time of the murder, Sansom and Watts had been in a sexual relationship for seven months.
“Messages indicate that from the early stages their relationship was characterised by sado-masochistic violence,” said Mr Little.
“Such was the intensity of the defendant’s relationship at this early stage that they referred to dying together if they were ever caught.”
He added “given the messages sent between the defendants” it was not possible to conclude Ms Mayhew was killed immediately.
After the murder, Sansom said: “We’re not evil, we’re not evil. We done the world a service.”
The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, is expected to pass sentence on Sansom and Watts this afternoon.
