THERE were concerns the decapitated head of murder victim Simon Shotton would never be found, a detective has revealed.
Senior investigating officer (SIO) Neil Third said without the convicted murderer revealing the head’s location, parts of it would have never been recovered.
As reported, 49-year-old Mr Shotton was murdered and dismembered in Boscombe during the summer of 2023.
The Daily Echo spoke with Mr Third, who with the Major Crime Investigation Team, took on ‘one of the most complex cold start murder cases’ Dorset Police has faced.
The murder investigation began with the discovery of two severed legs at Manor Steps zig zag, off Boscombe Overcliff Drive, on August 26, 2023.
Mr Third said: “To have a body dismembered and disposed of in the way it was, was a really unusual thing, certainly nothing that I’ve encountered previously in my service in the police.
“We had no idea what it was. I didn’t know whether it was going to be linked into organised crime.
“We had absolutely nothing to begin with. We had a site of deposition for the two legs. We weren’t able to tell from the legs the gender of the victim. We could get shoe size and height through bone measurement, but realistically that was about it.
“There weren’t any scars or tattoos, or anything to give us a starting point to try and identify through the legs, so we had, I think, probably one of the most complex cold-start murder that Dorset Police has faced in a number of years.”
Mr Third said a ‘significant amount of resourcing’ was required from the starting point.
He told the Daily Echo: “We had to look at what evidence we had around the scene of the deposition that could help us identify the people that were involved.
“That’s where the real resources intensity and complexity came into it because we seized thousands and thousands of hours of CCTV that needed to be reviewed, we visited houses in and around the surrounding area, looking for witnesses or any kind of information that would help to get that starting point.”
A pathologist conducted a post-mortem of the legs, and results made available on August 31 identified them as belonging to Simon Shotton.
Mr Third said: “The real break in this case came when we were able to identify Simon, because that gave us a starting point.
“Once we were able to work out who he was, and find out the phone numbers he’d been using, and look at the phone calls that had been made, we were able to identify that the last phone call from one of his phones had been to a second hand shop in Boscombe [Cash Creators in Christchurch Road].
“When we went into the shop, CCTV showed that Simon’s phone was in the hands of Debbie Pereira being sold to the shop, while Benjamin Atkins was also present.”
Police attended Atkins and Pereira's flat in Aylesbury Road, Boscombe, on September 1, and arrested them on suspicion of murder.
During searches of their home the following day, Mr Shotton’s arms were discovered in the back garden.
Mr Third said: “I think, the moment where I breathed that sigh of relief and thought, we’ve got the right people here, was upon the discovery of his arms in the back garden.
“Up until then, I had that niggling doubt that they could have just picked up the phone and sold it into the shop.”
Atkins, 49, and Pereira, 39, were both charged with murder on September 4.
Then, on September 6, a police officer discovered Mr Shotton’s headless torso stashed in a suitcase in Boscombe Chine Gardens.
However, Mr Shotton’s head was still missing.
Mr Third said: “We did a huge amount in those first weeks to try and do everything we could to recover all of Simon, and I was really conscious we didn’t have his head.
“We used the specialist dogs, we used the rope teams on the cliff edges at the beach, to make sure we covered everything, so that if his head was there, we would have found it.
“It was really important to me and the team that we did what we could to repatriate Simon’s head to the rest of his body so that his family had him complete.
“There came a really difficult decision to be made at one point where we’d done all the searching that I thought we could do in those areas, and we didn’t want to stop, but at some point, you have to say well we can’t continue to keep looking.
“At that point, we drew up what our plans would be and how we would react to certain scenarios, if there were reports of possible human remains or odd smells.”
It wasn’t until a court hearing on February 16 of this year that Atkins admitted to burning Mr Shotton's head and disposing of the fragments in Walpole Lane in Boscombe.
Police carried out a search of Walpole Lane on February 28, and skull fragments were discovered.
Mr Third said: “Whilst we can’t scientifically link those to Simon Shotton, the fact that skull fragments were in the area that Atkins said he disposed them, I think we’re confident they are his.
“I don’t think we’ll ever find any more of Simon, and yes, I was concerned that we would never find his head.
“Without Atkins telling us where he disposed it, we would never have found it.”
Atkins and Pereira faced a six-week trial at Winchester Crown Court, beginning on April 10.
The court heard how Mr Shotton had been lodging at the defendants’ flat when he was murdered on the morning of August 18.
Atkins told the jury he hit Mr Shotton with a hairbrush before beating him to death with a Bluetooth speaker, while Pereira denied any involvement in the killing.
Prosecutors said following Mr Shotton’s death, Pereira and Atkins went to steal a hacksaw from Wilko, before selling his phone to Cash Creators.
On Wednesday, May 22, the jury returned their verdicts.
Atkins was found guilty of murder by a majority jury verdict, having already admitted charges of perverting the course of justice, and preventing the burial of a corpse but denied murder.
Pereira was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of perverting the course of justice by a unanimous jury verdict.
Pereira had pleaded guilty to a charge of preventing the burial of a corpse mid-way through the trial.
When asked if he was happy with the verdicts, Mr Third responded, ‘Yes.’
He added: “Our job is to present the evidence, and the jury have reached their verdicts. That’s our justice system and we have to have faith in that.”
Reflecting on Dorset Police’s commitment to the murder investigation, Mr Third said: “Dorset Police is a relatively small police force compared to others in the country, and as I came into this role as SIO, it was really noticeable just how capable a force we are.
“We’ve got professionals that are able to draw upon years of experience and respond appropriately so that we can structure an investigation, to take what was a really complex cold start to a point where we’re getting a conclusion.
“For me it was really noticeable that it was a real commitment across the force, we’ve got this case that’s so serious and we’re going to do whatever we can to solve it.”
Mr Third also spoke about the impact the ‘gruesome’ parts of the case had on police.
He said: “The way this had been done, in that various body parts had been scattered across Bournemouth, was very unusual.
“It does impact upon the team but we’re professionals and we deal with homicide investigations frequently, we’ve got that resolve that when you encounter these things, yes, it is gruesome, but there is that need to have a professionalism around what you’re doing so that you maximise the potential to recover evidence.”
Mr Third ended by issuing a thanks to Mr Shotton’s family.
He said: “The way in which Simon Shotton’s family have conducted themselves is admirable; it’s been with dignity and I thank them for their support throughout.
“To be encountered as a family with such a gruesome end to your loved one, and to not be able to fully put your father back together again before you’ve buried him.
“That’s down to the actions of Atkins and Pereira and then their reluctance to then say here’s where the remains of his head are.”
Atkins and Pereira were sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, July 26.
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