30-01-2025
Couple jailed for life for murdering and dismembering woman
A couple who killed a woman and dumped her dismembered body in a park have been jailed for life.
Steven Sansom and his partner Gemma Watts, 49, previously pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of Sarah Mayhew, 38, and perverting the course of justice.
Sansom was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder with a whole life order which means he will never be released from prison.
It is the second life sentence for Sansom, 45, who was jailed for robbing and murdering a taxi driver in 1999 and released from prison on licence in 2019.
Watts was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years, along with five years for perverting the course of justice.
If she is ever released, she will spend the rest of her life on licence.
The couple are said to have known Ms Mayhew, who was found dead in Rowdown Fields, New Addington in south London, after police were alerted to the discovery of human remains on 2 April last year.
Sansom is believed to have used the name Red Rum, which is murder spelt backwards, on his profile on Facebook.
On 10 March, a post appeared on the account saying: "Best friends are those who don't say anything when you show up at their door with a dead body. They just grab a shovel and follow you."
Sansom, from Sutton, southwest London, robbed and slashed the neck of 59-year-old married father-of-two Terence Boyle on Christmas Eve 1998.
He ordered a cab to take him home from East Croydon before attacking driver Mr Boyle, who was described as "a quiet, gentle, unassuming family man".
He crawled dying from his cab after Sansom attacked him and stole £25 to buy Christmas presents.
Sansom, then 20, laughed afterwards and told a friend: "His kids are going to have to see him in hospital over Christmas," the court heard at the time.
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