Serial killer fan ‘murdered woman in “flat of horrors” and cut body into 11 pieces’
He was obsessed with violence and his home contained stuffed animals, live snakes, spiders on the walls and 'gory' home-made masks of characters in horror films, a court heard.
A serial killer fan lured a woman to his ‘flat of horrors’, murdered her with his boyfriend and dismembered her body into 11 pieces, a court has heard.
Nathan Maynard-Ellis, 25, and David Leesley, 30, are accused of killing Julia Rawson, 42, at their home in Tipton, West Midlands, in May last year. Maynard-Ellis had met Ms Rawson by chance at a pub and the pair had returned to his home in a taxi, Coventry Crown Court was told.
He was said to be obsessed with violence and serial killers, with the flat containing stuffed animals, live snakes in tanks, spiders on the walls and ‘gory’ home-made masks of characters in horror films.
After killing Ms Rawson, the men allegedly dismembered her body into 11 pieces and put them into black plastic bags, which they then hid in the undergrowth by a canal, the court was told.
Both men deny murder, while Maynard-Ellis also denies four counts of rape relating to historical allegations made by a woman after his arrest. They both admitted concealment of a corpse and perverting the course of justice by replacing bloodstained carpet and underlay at the flat.
Opening the prosecution’s case, Crown counsel Karim Khalil QC told the court: ‘For many years Maynard-Elllis has harboured dark thoughts that have focused mainly on the sexual assault of women and their violent killing.
‘He has shown a particular interest in certain themes involving serial killers and the dismemberment of bodies. His boyfriend, David Leesley, knew of these interests, since their flat was full of printed materials, DVDs and videos about serial killers and the violent sexual abuse of women.’
Mr Khalil told the jury that Maynard-Ellis accepted he was involved in Ms Rawson’s death but denies it was murder, while Leesley denies playing any part in the death and ‘blames his boyfriend’.
The court was told that Ms Rawson, a lesbian, had spent the evening with an ex-girlfriend, before catching the wrong bus home, which resulted in her ending up at the Bottle and Cork, in New Mill Street, where she met Maynard-Ellis.
Mr Khalil said: ‘At about 2am in the morning, Julia and Nathan Maynard-Ellis got into a taxi. Before they arrived at the flat it’s unlikely that Julia would have known that Nathan Maynard-Ellis was homosexual. She would also not have known that his boyfriend was in the flat.
‘Furthermore, Julia could not have known that she was about to enter a “flat of horrors” – but she must have realised this very soon after she went in. One can only imagine the sense of panic that it might have created in her.
‘By way of description, there were numerous stuffed creatures on the walls, snakes and reptiles in tanks, and many gory face-masks of characters from horror films that Nathan Maynard-Ellis used to make.’
He added: ‘More disturbing perhaps, and entirely hidden from her view, was the mental make-up of the man with whom she had just arrived. For years, he had been addicted to thoughts of the violent sexualised killing of women.’
Maynard-Ellis had been seen by psychiatrists about his sexually violent fantasies, and also collected newspaper clippings and books about serial killers, and horror films featuring decapitation and necrophilia, the jury heard.
The court was told Ms Rawson’s body parts, including her severed head, hands and feet, were found on June 12 and 29 2019 at two different locations, a month after she died.
After the her death, prosecutors allege both defendants acted together by burning clothing, disposing of a bloodstained sofa, and hiding rugs in a lock-up storage unit.
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It is alleged they behaved normally in the days and weeks after Ms Rawson was killed, with Maynard-Ellis appearing ‘very happy’ as he celebrated his birthday on May 21.
Mr Khalil told the court: ‘They went about their daily lives thereafter, we say, as if nothing untoward had happened – going to the pub, meeting family, going to work. Neither man panicked during that dismemberment and neither man panicked afterwards – quite the opposite.
‘Nor did they go their separate ways, which might have suggested, perhaps, that one of them didn’t agree with the actions of the other. Everything they did thereafter showed them to be acting together and doing everything necessary, together, to hide their horrific acts from being discovered.’
The trial continues.
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