“Becky Watts, who’s 16, was last seen at her Bristol home. 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. 5 days on, detectives and the school girl’s family are mystified by her sudden disappearance.”
“Ladies and sir, please help. Um, it appears my daughter has gone missing. No one has seen her. No, no. We phoned around the family, all her friends have contacted us and asking where she is, and none of them know.”
“What’s your name?”
“Uh, Rebecca Watts.”
16-year-old Rebecca Watts, known to most as Becky, had last been seen by her family the previous morning. She had left her home in Crown Hill, Bristol, with her tablet, phone, and laptop. She had not taken anything else or spare clothes with her. She hadn’t told anybody where she was going, and she wasn’t responding to text messages and calls. This was completely out of character for Becky. She had never behaved this way or stayed out too late. She had spoken with her friend the day before, who said she had been her normal self, and nothing seemed unusual or off about her demeanor. There was nothing to indicate that she had planned to run away.
Becky had been born on the 3rd of June 1998 to parents Darren and Tanya. Before she was born, her parents had split up and her early life was spent with her mother, Tanya. She would later be taken into care due to concerns of neglect, but not long after, she and her brother Dan started living with their father. She was described as burly and feisty with a wicked sense of humor, feeling confident to come out of her shell around those she knew. At school, she was more quiet and shy, but her teachers said she was incredibly caring, kind, and had a huge heart. She had a small but very close-knit circle of friends whom she adored and they adored her in return.
Darren would later begin a relationship with a woman called Angie, who herself was a parent to a son called Nathan. When Darren and Angie married in 2013, Nathan had served as best man, and Becky as a bridesmaid along with Nathan’s girlfriend, Shauna. Less than two years after their wedding day, their world had been turned upside down, and Becky was now missing.
After calling 999, Becky’s father made a desperate plea on Facebook saying,
“Please, if anyone has seen or heard from my daughter, just let me know she is safe.”
“She went missing Thursday 19th at 11:15 a.m. to meet her boyfriend, and never arrived, so he came here looking for her. She hasn’t been seen since by any of her friends. Police have now started a search. I’m really scared now. I want her home.”
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Aone said that what was alarming to police was that her social media had not been used. She was regularly in contact with her friendship group, but there had been no communication from her. The story was quickly picked up by the national media.
“Becky Watts, who’s 16, was last seen at her Bristol home. 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. 5 days on, detectives and the school girl’s family are mystified by her sudden disappearance.”
“Becky Watts, it’s really hot anyway because 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, um, typical teenage girl—lots of 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.”
“B, if you can see this, get in contact. And if anyone out there knows something, 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’s just wanted here. We just want her back. That’s all we want.”
The following day on Wednesday the 25th of February, her family was asked to leave the home so that a search could be done, but there was still no sign of her. Searches were also being undertaken by six teams in various locations, including an area of woodland and three houses. The College of Policing and National Crime Agency were drafted in to help and a helicopter was deployed to help search from the air. The nature reserve at Troopers Hill and a local lake was searched as well, but she was nowhere to be found.
The investigating team needed to talk to those closest to Becky to try and ascertain her last known movements and find out any more information that was relevant. They were trying to build a picture of exactly who Becky was, hoping that the answers to their questions could be found. They spoke to Becky’s stepmother, Angie.
“Shauna heard the door go, so I… she was assuming it was Becky going out. So, I’m assuming it was Becky going out. Okay.”
No one saw her go but just heard the door go, and misfortune that Becky had left. As their inquiries continued, they found that the last people who had seen Becky had been her stepbrother, Nathan Matthews, and his girlfriend, Shauna. They had initially been hard to pin down for an interview, but the officers were eventually able to get in touch with them and asked them to come to the station. Shauna gave her account of what had happened on the day Becky had last been seen:
“I think we got there about 11-ish. Heard music upstairs, assuming Becky had been in, then. Um, I went into the kitchen to get a cigarette, went to go outside to have a cigarette. My daughter started whining ’cause she wanted to come out 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 wasn’t until a lot later 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. Washing my hands.’ I think I heard the door slam, front door, um, again.”
“Shauna was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Nathan Matthews was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 33 years. When he was led away to begin his sentence, he couldn’t look his family in the eye and instead stared at the floor.”
“Speaking today has brought to a conclusion six weeks of sometimes harrowing, um, evidence. Obviously, in terms of my team, it’s been seven or eight months now of investigation. This has taken an awfully long time. It’s been extremely complex, and 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.”
“Clearly the, the judge is a, is a human being and as we’ve already described, the evidence is extremely 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 tried 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 against their convictions. Following her death, a serious case review was commissioned by the Bristol Safeguarding Children Board. It concluded that her murder couldn’t have been predicted or prevented. The report said there had not been enough attention paid to Becky’s wider family which included her stepbrother and his girlfriend. It said that Becky’s sometimes challenging behavior and her anxiety was a result of the bullying she was enduring from Matthews.
Darren would go on to write a book about his daughter titled Becky: The Heartbreaking Story of Becky Watts. He would later say in an interview,
“If they were going to hang him, I would pull the lever, so no one else would have to carry that guilt.”
The stress of what had happened to his daughter had caused him to lose four stone, or 56 lb. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat, and he was barely able to keep water down.
In spite of all they had been through and the horrifying events that had devastated their family, Darren and Angie’s marriage survived and they remain committed to one another.
“My love for her is immense. It really is. It’s unwavering. And I will… I’ve lost a couple of members of family because I won’t turn on her. I will never desert her. Never. If this doesn’t break us up, then nothing’s going to.”
The way the community had come together to help and support the family had been nothing short of incredible, with many lending a hand where they could and doing their best to help. 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. Minutes’ silence 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 thought 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.”
The story of Becky Watts is both horrifying and heartbreaking. She is perhaps best summed up by the words of her family:
“She was like a tornado, hurricane, and sunbeam all at once. She came into your life and made you feel alive.”
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
