Postman jailed after decapitating girlfriend because she ‘worked too much'
Ewan Methven, 27, admitted murdering Phoenix Spencer-Horn at their home on Nov 16 last year, after the couple ordered a takeaway to their flat in Glen Lee, East Kilbride.
Prosecutors told the High Court in Glasgow that Methven choked her before severing her head and trying to remove her limbs and torso from her body.
Earlier that day, Methven had complained to his girlfriend that her waitress shifts made him 'lonely'.
After murdering and decapitating his 21-year-old girlfriend, he texted her mother pretending to be her and he trawled the internet for pornography for hours.
Methven later dialled 999, insisting he had a drug-induced blackout and could not remember what he had done.
But Judge Lord Matthews at the High Court in Glasgow ordered Methven to spend at least 23 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
He told Methven: 'You pleaded guilty to a dreadful crime, namely the murder of Phoenix Spencer-Horn, who was a much-loved and sorely missed daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend.
'At age 21 and 134 days, she was standing at the threshold of what should have been a long, fulfilling life. You were a trusted member of her family, and you betrayed that trust and robbed her of a life in the cruellest way.
'Not content with what you did to her, you robbed her of all dignity in death by decapitating her and tried to dismember her in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
'The way you treated her after her death meant that her family didn't have the comfort of saying goodbye to her. No punishment I can inflict or what I can say or do can be enough and the only sentence that I can impose is life.
'I saw a letter written by you which answers none of the questions. You blame substances, but that is not an excuse.'
The couple met at a family party and had been dating for two years before the killing. They had recently moved into the top floor, one-bedroom flat.
'Good spirits'
Methven was employed by the Royal Mail while Ms Spencer-Horn, who was known as Phe, held part-time jobs at the Strathaven Hotel and a local coffee shop.
She had been working on Nov 16 and was described as in 'good spirits'.
Methven had texted her during her shift complaining of feeling 'lonely' due to her working hours. Ms Spencer-Horn apologised to her boyfriend.
The postman had also been working that morning and told a colleague he was going home to 'chill'.
Methven ordered a takeaway that night and the couple ate when Ms Spencer-Horn returned.
She contacted her mother at 9.37pm, stating she was at home having dinner. The court heard this was the last communication they had.
At about midnight, a downstairs neighbour heard a 'loud noise and hurried footsteps'. This coincided with increased activity recorded on a phone app measuring Methven's steps.
He had attacked Ms Spencer-Horn with three knives, stabbing her 20 times. The fatal stab wound was to the chest. There were others in that area, as well as to the face and buttocks.
The court heard that he had attempted to 'sever her torso, right wrist and ankle from her body'.
Methven tried to cover up the killing for two days and spent the weekend driving Ms Spencer-Horn's red Vauxhall Corsa.
Prosecutors said he scrolled through her phone and searched 170 times for internet pornography and made several attempts to buy cocaine.
He also repeatedly pretended in texts to his victim's mother, Alison Spencer, that her daughter was 'alive and well'.
Ms Spencer had tried to contact her daughter on the morning of Nov 17, and Methven replied, saying 'Phe is not up yet' and that he would get her to message when she was.
He later pretended to be his girlfriend and sent a text to her mother, saying: 'Hey, sorry I've just woken up xxx.' Another claimed Ms Spencer-Horn was apparently 'all good'.
The court heard that minutes after this, Methven logged on to adult websites and accessed pornography over a period of more than 10 hours.
'Psychotic break'
Concerns were raised when Ms Spencer-Horn did not turn up for work on Nov 18.
Methen dialled 999 that afternoon, stating he had had 'a drug-induced psychotic break' and that he had 'killed' his girlfriend. He said he had 'blacked out through the full thing'.
He told the operator: 'The past day I have been trying to kind of muster up the courage to phone.'
Methven said his girlfriend's body was in the hall with a knife beside her. He said he had been taking steroids and cocaine, which he believed had been spiked.
Police found her 'mutilated body' with two blood-stained knives next to her. A third blood-stained knife was found discarded in the bedroom.
Methven was described as 'calm', telling the officers: 'I could not stay here with her like that. I tried to dismember her. I moved her from the bath and put her there.'
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice including the mutilation of Ms Spencer-Horn's body and lying to her mother.
Tony Graham KC, defending, told the court Methven was 'unable to offer an explanation to why the course of events led to her death other than his admission of drugs'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ice cream seller, 41, who was stabbed to death is pictured for the first time: Woman and man arrested after 'murder'
A man who was stabbed to death in the middle of the street has been named by police as 41-year-old Shazad Khan. The Metropolitan Police were called to reports of a stabbing in Monks Park, Wembley, at around 6.10pm on Tuesday. Mr Khan was treated by London Ambulance Service paramedics but, despite their best efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene. His family are being supported by specialist officers. A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder, while a 31-year-old woman was detained at the scene on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. They both remain in police custody. A blue forensics tent has been erected on the street following the stabbing on Tuesday Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, local policing commander for north-west London, said: 'Our thoughts remain with Shazad's family and friends at this unimaginably difficult time. 'This incident will rightly cause concern across the community, but intelligence at this stage leads us to believe there is no wider threat to the public. 'Detectives are conducting a thorough and fast-paced investigation, and locals can expect to see an uptick in police presence in the area. 'Anyone with any information – particularly dashcam or doorbell footage from the time of the incident – is urged to speak to us as a matter of urgency.'
Glasgow Times
20 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Boarding school pupils ‘were abused by paedophiles', inquiry finds
Findings on the Keil School in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire – which closed in 2000 – were delayed until the conclusion of the prosecution against a former physics teacher who was branded a 'prolific' paedophile. William Bain admitted 11 charges and was jailed for nine years in June at the High Court in Glasgow, after a criminal investigation was sparked by evidence at the SCAI in 2021. In a report published on Wednesday, chair of the inquiry, Lady Smith, condemned the school's failure to investigate Bain and said it was a 'disgraceful abdication of responsibility' which allowed predators 'free rein', including another recently convicted paedophile ex-teacher. Bain, of Crieff, Perthshire, was described as a sadist by detectives and the scale of his abuse of pupils aged between 11 and 14 was deemed 'horrendous', following his sentencing on June 30. Lady Smith found that school leaders carried out a 'cover-up' to protect their reputation and hailed the 'fresh prosecutions' of Bain and another recently convicted paedophile, following evidence heard at the inquiry. She warned that further abusers could be prosecuted as a result of the SCAI. The findings are part of SCAI's Boarding Schools case study, including Loretto School, Gordonstoun and Merchiston Castle School. READ NEXT: Residents oppose this to be built near Ibrox Stadium Keil School was established by philanthropists to educate rural boys and moved to Dumbarton in the 1920s, where it became an environment where pupils 'were expected to endure violence and suffer in silence', according to the SCAI. From the 1950s until the 1980s, abuse was 'normalised', with prolific abuser Bain remaining at the school until it closed in 2000 and other offences carried out by paedophile English teacher David Gutteridge in the early 1990s. Both men were house tutors and the SCAI condemned a lack of oversight. Bain, who worked there for 23 years, was previously convicted in May 2016 of offences at Keil and jailed for six-and-a-half years, while Gutteridge was jailed last year for indecent assault of a pupil at the school, set up by the Mackinnon-Macneill Trust. In her report, Lady Smith said that a headteacher was responsible for a 'cover-up', while abusers such as Bain had 'free rein on a daily basis'. Lady Smith said: 'Protection of the reputation of the school was prioritised over the interests of children, that was a disgraceful abdication of responsibility. The prevailing culture allowed two paedophiles to operate without fear. 'William Bain sexually abused some children on hundreds of occasions, on an almost daily basis. The abuse Bain perpetrated persisted for years, despite concerns arising early on, after a parent complained.' She branded an investigation 'inadequate' and said parents were falsely reassured. Boarding school pupils 'were abused by paedophiles', inquiry finds READ NEXT: Police report identifies 'growing threat' from Glasgow and Edinburgh gang violence Lady Smith said: 'The problem was covered up by headmaster Christopher Tongue and other senior staff. Despite parents being assured that reports would go on record, this did not happen. Tongue's successor was never told about it.' Gutteridge, who taught at Keil from 1989 to 1991, abused a pupil, having 'carefully engineered the circumstances', according to the SCAI. He was jailed for 17 months following a conviction for indecent assault at Forfar Sheriff Court in September 2024. But his predatory behaviour towards teenage boys predated Keil and in 2015, he was jailed for 18 months after being convicted of two charges of indecent assault at Harrow Crown Court, committed in England in the 1980s. Other staff physically abused pupils, justifying it as 'officially sanctioned punishment', including a housemaster remembered for his 'sadistic brutality' and 'mass beatings', including using the belt, according to the SCAI. Lady Smith said: 'Keil was a school with inadequate senior leadership and a lack of the most basic of child protection systems.' She branded it a 'remarkable example of naivety and false optimism trumping reality', which resulted in children being abused. Lady Smith added: 'The cases of Bain and Gutteridge are examples of a significant outcome. 'Fresh prosecutions followed exposure of their behaviour through the inquiry's investigations and evidence – demonstrating that those who abuse children in care may find it catching up with them decades later.' Responsibility for running boarding houses was left to senior boys appointed 'chiefs', who controlled squads of junior boys, with some staff considering themselves 'immune from management', a report from the inquiry said. Governors of the Mackinnon-Macneill Trust 'failed to challenge the situation' and have since apologised for the abuse, according to the SCAI. Lady Smith said: 'I would encourage anyone who has relevant information on any aspect of our work to get in touch with our witness support team. We want to hear from you.' On Wednesday, nuns from a Catholic order, Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, said that children were abused in the care of their establishments for deaf and disabled children. Sister Eileen Glancy, speaking about St Vincent's School for the Deaf and Blind in Glasgow, told a hearing of the inquiry in Edinburgh: 'We'd have to accept some children were abused.' She added: 'Children weren't as well protected as they should have been.' A former pupil of St Vincent's, using the pseudonym Gordon, said in a witness statement that he told his mother about abuse from nuns, and was punished after she contacted the police. The man said that he told his mother on two occasions, and said: 'The physical abuse used to shock me as these were Christians. We lived with fear and intimidation all the time.' He said: 'My mum spoke to a nun and challenged her about the treatment of children. I know the nun told my mum it wasn't true and I had been a bad boy. 'After that, I was assaulted again and my mum told the police, but nothing happened.' Gordon alleged that he was subjected to sexual abuse as well as physical violence, including having his head 'batted against a desk'. He said that the nuns and a priest were 'hypocrites', and that the school felt like a 'prison' as it was surrounded by 15-foot walls – but there was no alternative, as it was the only school for deaf children. Gordon said: 'There was so much cruelty at St Vincent's and none of us could understand that, the Sisters were supposed to be so holy and caring but were so cruel. This was a period of suffering for all deaf children of my generation. We all suffered, we were all terrified. 'I would like to see charges brought against the people who were responsible.' The inquiry continues.
BBC News
36 minutes ago
- BBC News
Two people charged after death of man in Skegness
A man and a woman have been charged over the death of a man in 41-year-old was pronounced dead inside an address in Algitha Road after police were called by ambulance crews at 09:50 BST on Monday. Sylwia Bukala, 42, of Algitha Road in Skegness, has been charged with murder and Alberto Bukala, 21, also of Algitha Road, has been charged with perverting the course of remain in police custody and will appear at Lincoln Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
