The mother of murdered Becky Watts has slammed the parole board for releasing the woman who helped her boyfriend kill the 16-year-old and chop up her body from prison after just eight years.
Shauna Hoare, 29, was released under licence today after serving half the sentence she received for her part in the murder of the Bristol teen, which shocked the nation back in 2015.
She was found guilty of manslaughter in October that year, and given a 17-year sentence. Her then boyfriend Nathan Matthews – who was Becky’s step-brother – was convicted of murder and given a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years.
Tanya Watts, Becky’s mother, has expressed her anger at Hoare’s release, saying: ‘She’s not even 30, she’s got her whole life ahead of her and she’s got a future, whereas when we go to talk to our daughter, we’re talking to the ground,’
Ms Watts had been dreading the release – and had been given notice that it was imminent – before being informed earlier today that it had happened.
The woman who helped her boyfriend murder 16-year-old Becky Watts (pictured) has been released from prison after just eight years in a move criticised by the victim’s mother
Shauna Hoare, 29, (pictured) was released under licence today after serving half the sentence she received for her part in the murder of the Bristol teen, which shocked the nation back in 2015. She was found guilty of manslaughter in October that year, and given a 17-year sentence
Hoare’s then-boyfriend Nathan Matthews – who was Becky’s step-brother – was convicted of murder and given a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years. Matthews and Hoare are pictured together
It is understood that part of the conditions of Hoare’s release include that she is not allowed to return to Bristol, but Home Office officials will give no details of the arrangements.
‘I don’t want her to feel like she’s free to walk down the street without a care in the world, after what she did. I think she’s cold and evil,’ the grieving mother said.
‘The worst thing for me is that Becky trusted her and what eats away at me is when I remember all those times when I would ring Becky and Shauna would answer and she was so sweet and for a few seconds sometimes I would mistake her for Becky.
Ms Watts added: ‘Becky liked her and trusted her and she betrayed Becky’s trust, and it is hard when I think of how she smiled at the camera in the police station when she was arrested.’
It is understood that part of the conditions of Hoare’s release include that she is not allowed to return to Bristol, but Home Office officials will give no details of the arrangements.
Hundreds of members of the community in St George joined the search for Becky, 16, back in February 2015.
But the entire city was left horrified in early March by the gruesome discovery of her dismembered body close to the flat in Barton Hill where Matthews and Hoare lived.
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Hoare denied all knowledge that her then-boyfriend had murdered his step-sister while she was in Becky’s family home in St George, loaded her body into the back of their car, drove it to their flat in Barton Hill and, over the course of the next few days, dismembered it. Nathan Matthews is pictured
But a jury at Bristol Crown Court in October 2015 heard that the couple went on shopping sprees over the following few days buying cling film, goggles and masks – all items used in the ‘meticulously’ process of packing up her body parts. Matthews is pictured on CCTV buying a circular power saw at a B&Q in Bristol in October 2015
Hoare, who was pregnant at the time of Becky’s murder, denied all knowledge that her then-boyfriend had murdered his step-sister while she was in Becky’s family home in St George, loaded her body into the back of their car, drove it to their flat in Barton Hill and, over the course of the next few days, dismembered it.
But a jury at Bristol Crown Court in October 2015 heard that the couple went on shopping sprees over the following few days buying cling film, goggles and masks – all items used in the ‘meticulously’ process of packing up her body parts.
Hoare searched ‘do you want to hide a body’ on YouTube the day after Becky was killed, but said it had been a parody of the Disney film, Frozen.
When police searched the couple’s home, they discovered a cluttered house although a clean bathroom, with no traces of Becky’s DNA or blood.
She was convicted of manslaughter, and later lost an appeal against her conviction and the length of her sentence.
Hoare had just turned 21 at the time and the seven months she spent in custody on remand awaiting her trial later that year counted as part of her sentence.
Prisoners in the UK who have served half their sentences are routinely eligible for being released under licence, and with that time Hoare spent in 2015 on remand awaiting trial taken into account, she has now spent eight-and-a-half years in custody and today, September 1, was released on licence.
Ms Watts has said she is angry and feels helpless knowing that the woman convicted of being involved in the death of her daughter was out of prison.
Becky’s mother has said she is angry and feels helpless knowing that the woman convicted of being involved in the death of her daughter was out of prison. Pictured is a 2015 court sketch of Shauna Hoare
Hoare was the subject of several national newspaper reports in the early years of the eight-and-a-half years she spent in prison.
In November 2015, just after she was convicted, the Daily Mail reported that she was ‘having the time of her life’ with a new lesbian girlfriend in HMP Bronzefield, Surrey.
But a year later, in November 2016, the Mail reported that she had been so badly beaten in prison that she had to resuscitated twice, and was ‘having a terrible time’.
At that time, the Mirror reported that Hoare had told friends that she was still adamant she knew nothing about Becky’s murder.
