Man, 45, handed whole life order for ‘bloodthirsty’ murder of woman

A double murderer who carried out the “bloodthirsty” killing of a woman and dumped her dismembered body in a park has been jailed for the rest of his life.

Builder Steve Sansom was out of prison on life licence for another murder when he killed Sarah Mayhew, 38, and dumped her remains in Rowdown Fields, New Addington, south London, last spring.

The 45-year-old and his partner Gemma Watts, 49, have admitted murder and perverting the course of justice by dismembering Ms Mayhew’s body, distributing the parts at “various locations” and cleaning up the scene, the Old Bailey heard.

On Thursday, Mrs Justice Cutts sentenced Sansom to life imprisonment for murder with a whole life order, which means he will never be released from prison.

He was also sentenced to five years for perverting the course of justice to run concurrently.

Watts held back tears as she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years along with five years for perverting the course of justice to run concurrently.

If she is ever released, she will spend the rest of her life on licence.

The judge said both defendants were “equally involved” in the plan to lure Ms Mayhew to Sansom’s flat, adding: “You had lured Sarah to the flat for depraved and violent sexual activity during which she was to be killed.

“Her fear and suffering must have been acute as she realised why she was there and what was happening.”

The judge added: “She was an innocent woman, lured to that flat to die in order that you both could act out your blood thirsty and wicked fantasy”.

Sansom, of Sutton, south-west London, and Watts, of New Addington, sat quietly in the dock as details of their “kinky” sexual relationship – including a stream of messages between them about bestiality, humiliation and causing hurt – were outlined at their sentencing hearing.

They indulged in “depraved conversation about sexual activity” and the graphic messages between them soon evolved into becoming more than fantasy.

The judge said that Sansom “had murder in mind” and that Watts, who was obsessed with him, took part in the murder.

The judge added: “There is clear and proper inference in my view that this murder involved sexual and sadistic conduct.”

Ms Mayhew, who lived in New Addington, on the outskirts of Croydon, was never seen again after she joined Sansom, whom she had met years before on a dating site, at his ground floor flat in Sutton at about 11pm on March 8 2024. Watts was already at the property.

Ms Mayhew’s head and limbs were found more than eight miles away in Rowdown Field in New Addington, just over three weeks later on April 2 2024.

Her torso was discovered much later in the River Wandle and some pieces of evidence were destroyed or disposed of by the defendants, the court heard.

It is believed Ms Mayhew must have been killed or incapacitated inside Sansom’s flat on the night of March 8 to 9 2024 and, given the messages sent between the defendants in the months before, “it is not credible to conclude that she was killed immediately,” prosecutor Tom Little KC said.

Sansom later tried to justify what they had done, saying: “We’re not evil, we done the world a service.”

Mr Little told the court: “The defendants acting together conducted the planned and premeditated bloodthirsty murder of Sarah Mayhew.

“It is a murder which the prosecution submit involved sexual and/or sadistic conduct.

“Having committed the murder they then made very extensive efforts to pervert the course of justice over a number of days.

“Prior to the murder, the defendants had exchanged a range of depraved messages including those indicating a desire on their part to kill victims whilst involved in sexual activity with them, with a knife or knives, and then have sex with each other whilst covered in the blood of the victim and they even discussed eating human flesh but we do not suggest they did so.”

The court heard that Sansom sent Watts a voice message on September 11 2023 that said: “Everything looks like meat now don’t they? A plaything, something to cut, something to bleed, they all look different now.”

By March 10 2024, Sansom and Watts had decided to cut up Ms Mayhew’s body, the prosecution said.

On that day, he used cash to buy a 300mm hacksaw, a 300mm blade and a 14-litre bucket. An incinerator was used in a garden and Ms Mayhew’s clothes were not found.

In the days after the murder is believed to have taken place, Sansom and Watts were seen walking by the River Wandle and near his flat, and at one point he is pulling a suitcase that is “noticeably heavier” than before because “it now contained Sarah Mayhew’s torso,” Mr Little said.

The defendants showed no remorse for the killing and instead later messaged each other and joked about disposing of someone in a suitcase, the court heard.

DNA tests carried out on blood traces in a bucket, in the kitchen and the lounge floor and walls at Sansom’s flat showed they belonged to Ms Mayhew.

Her bloodstains were also found in the bedroom and bathroom sink.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Mayhew was remembered by her mother Angela as a “beautiful, pretty girl” and she said that “it breaks my heart she is not around”.

Ms Mayhew’s father David thanked the defendants for pleading guilty and saving his grieving family from the ordeal of sitting through a trial of this “horrendous case”.

He added: “That said, whatever sentence you may receive will never compare to the pain you have caused us.”

“I ask myself the same question all the time, why did you have to kill her? Maybe I will never know.”

Sansom was jailed in May 1999 after admitting the murder and robbery of a minicab driver on Christmas Eve the previous year, when he ordered a cab to take him home from East Croydon.

The victim in that case, 59-year-old married father-of-two Terence Boyle, had crawled from his cab after Sansom attacked him and stole £25 to buy presents.

Sansom, then 20, laughed afterwards and told a friend: “His kids are going to have to see him in hospital over Christmas.”

He was freed from prison on licence in 2019 after his case was considered by the Parole Board, and was under probation supervision when he killed for a second time.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman, who confirmed a serious further offence review is under way, said: “This was an abhorrent crime and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Sarah Mayhew.”