THE murder of Becky Watts by her step-brother was a “despicable act of evil that can never be forgiven”, her heartbroken father told a court today.
Darren Galsworthy’s victim impact statement was read to Bristol crown court as Nathan Matthews, 28, was jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years behind bars.
He suffocated the Bristol teenager and sawed up her body in the bath.
Lover Shauna Hoare, 21, — who hatched the sex-fuelled kidnap plot with him — was sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter earlier this week.
Darren — who is married to Matthews’ mum Anjie and raised the killer as his own son — said: “I’m the father of Becky Watts now known as Bristol’s angel.”
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He said: “We will never understand why this has happened but we now believe we are victims in a plot of hatred and greed.
“This despicable act of evil can never be forgiven or forgotten. When the news came our entire world collapsed.
“I can’t describe the searing pain and anguish Anjie and I felt when Becky was found. The only way I can describe it is like being cast off a cliff into despair.”
He said Matthews and Hoare callously watched him descend into madness through worrying about his missing daughter.
He said: “It truly would have been much easier to have taken us all, than have to cope with the aftermath of this crime.
“Everything beautiful in our lives has been ripped apart with one act of violence.
“When I close my eyes to sleep I see Becky’s death over and over again. I hear her cry and see her terror, and then her realisation they are not going to stop.
“I feel her heart racing and I am all too powerless to help her. Becky was so small and fragile she never stood a chance.”
An emotional statement from Becky’s mum Tanya Watts was also read.
She described the moment she gave birth on June 3 1998 saying: “Becky didn’t want to come out.
“She was happy where she was. When they finally brought her out she was screaming the place down.
“I always said they knew about it when Becky was born, they will know about it when she is a teenager.
“I never thought it would be like this.”
Tanya went on: “My beautiful, kind, funny, loving, loyal, feisty, creative daughter has been murdered.
“Every day has been a living nightmare and, if that wasn’t bad enough, for some reason that I will never be able to understand, after my daughter was murdered she was mutilated — cut into pieces.
“It is like the worst of all horror movies — but this is real.
“She was my child. She was only 16. How am I meant to cope with that? It is never ending. I don’t want to remember Becky like this but the thought of her dismemberment is always at the forefront of my mind.”
Tanya added: “I have so many questions that just go on and on and on.
“I can’t rest until I know what has happened to her.
“Becky must have been so scared, thinking she was safely resting in her own bedroom, to be attacked like that.
“Knowing that her last moment was filled with fear and she would have fought for her life — it is just unbearable for us.
“The impact of Becky being taken from us, murdered, dismembered and hidden is massive.
“I often hear myself talking about Becky and asking questions about her death but it is like I am talking about someone else, not my baby girl.
“Those people involved in Becky’s murder and dismemberment left us with a lifetime of emptiness, continuing memories of her last moments, nightmares and a grave to visit.”
The upstairs and downstairs public galleries were packed with family members and friends, who wore blue ribbons in her memory.