Ellie Gould, 17, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Thomas Griffiths, 17, one day after she broke up with him. Photo / Wiltshire Police
Ellie Gould, 17, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Thomas Griffiths, 17, one day after she broke up with him. Photo / Wiltshire Police
UK teenager Ellie Gould had no idea that when she opened the door for her ex-boyfriend, he would strangle and stab her to death.
The 17-year-old was murdered just one day after she broke up with Thomas Griffiths, also 17, to focus on her school exams.
The shocking murder in May 2019 – which features in the new series of Murder At My Door in the UK – left Gould's family devastated.
"It was heartbreaking. No mother should ever hold the cold hand of her murdered child. That is wrong. That is disgusting. That is horrific," Carole Gould told The Sun.
The pair, who had met in high school, had only been dating for three months before he became "possessive" and murdered Gould.
The telltale marks on Thomas Griffiths' face. Photo / Wiltshire Police
They had known each other for several years before they became a couple. Griffiths was Gould's first boyfriend.
And while she was "flattered" he had asked her out, the teen's mother said they were never a good match.
"There was just nothing remarkable about him, he was really quiet. He had dinner with us and he didn't have a lot to say for himself. But it was her first boyfriend and we assumed it would fizzle out," she told The Sun.
However, on the night of May 3, 2019, Griffiths brutally murdered Gould, using her finger to unlock her phone and text her friends to try to make it look as if she had killed herself.
Telltale signs
Griffiths initially tried to claim he hadn't been near the family's Wilshire house, a county in south-west England, but marks on his face were telltale signs for investigators.
Gould, who had hopes of joining the police force, was studying for her trial exams when Griffiths knocked on her door. She had broken up with him the night before.
Ellie Gould hoped to become a police officer. Photo / Wiltshire Police
But despite Griffiths' web of lies, police were able to reveal he was behind her murder.
"When he was seen by officers, he was displaying marks, fresh marks down his face, which looked like scratch marks," Detective Superintendent Jim Taylor said.
"They looked like classic defence wounds and, based on that, quite rightly he was arrested on suspicion of murder of Ellie Gould."
Police also revealed that Griffiths claimed he hadn't been to Ellie's house that day, but his smartphone revealed that he had been in the location and CCTV footage also showed his car heading away from her home at the time of the murder.
"His initial kind of response upon being arrested was, 'Is my girlfriend OK? I haven't seen her today,'" Taylor said.
"So he is immediately already trying to lay the foundations down of his lies and deceit."
CCTV footage of Thomas Griffiths on the day he murdered Ellie Gould. Photo / Wiltshire Police
Griffiths stabbed Ellie multiple times in the neck before disposing of a number of items in the woods and going back to school.
He also sent a chilling text with a selfie to a group of friends explaining he "scratched" himself out of stress.
"I think everyone noticed that I've been rly [sic] down lately and I need to tell you why," Griffiths' text read. "Me and Ellie are going on a break and see how thinks go after exams. As well as this my dad has cancer and my nan has been in hospital having heart problems.
"I've been so stressed lately and I don't know how to cope with it.
"I've been scratching myself around my neck area and as this group has kinda become my best friends I don't know who else to talk to x."
However, Griffiths had just committed a murder and lied to police about his whereabouts, saying that after his mother dropped him at school he went back home because he was sick.
Instead, after he killed Gould, he washed his shoes in the sink, wiped the knife clean with an apron and used her phone to message a friend who was due to pick her up and take her to school, telling her not to come, The Sun reported.
"Matt rang me at work, absolutely hysterical, saying 'Carole you need to come home. Ellie's had an accident'," Carole Gould told The Sun.
"I was so taken aback because I'd never heard him so hysterical.
"I ran out of work. All I could think was Ellie had cut herself because he doesn't like the sight of blood."
However, after initially thinking her death was a tragic accident, police later told the heartbroken family Ellie had been murdered.
Griffiths, who was arrested two days later, eventually pleaded guilty, but refused to explain why he took Gould's life.
He was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years behind bars in November 2019 – six months after the murder - but he is eligible to apply for a review after serving half his sentence if he can prove good behaviour.
Carole Gould has previously said he should serve at least 17 years – equal to her daughter's age – given his lack of remorse.
"We as Ellie's parents want answers from Griffiths - how could he carry out such an evil brutal murder on our beautiful, kind, caring, gentle Ellie who he was supposed to have been fond of and why did he do it?" she said.
Carole Gould is now campaigning for victims of domestic violence in the UK.
