UK man murdered wife and cut her body into more than 200 pieces

Nicholas Metson pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife Holly Bramley. Photo / Lincolnshire Police / PA

An “evil monster” stabbed his wife to death and then cut her body into more than 200 pieces before dumping them in a river.

Holly Bramley’s body parts were found in several shopping bags after being thrown in the Witham in March 2023.

Nicholas Metson, 28, pleaded guilty to her murder and on Monday he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Metson paid his friend, Joshua Hancock, to help dispose of his wife’s remains after he kept them hidden in the couple’s flat for nearly a week.

Metson had numerous previous convictions for offences against former partners, the first of which was when he was 17, with more in 2013, 2016 and 2017.

Sentencing him, Judge Simon Hirst said it was an aggravating feature that Metson never gave a reason why he had killed his wife.

Holly Bramley's body parts were found in shopping bags after being thrown in the River Witham in March 2023. Photo / Lincolnshire Police

He said the fact Bramley was cut into 224 parts was also an aggravating feature and could not be explained by his autism.

“The number of parts was far from necessary to remove Holly’s parts from your flat,” Judge Hirst added.

Judge Hirst said although the exact events of March 17 were not known, it was clear Holly bit Metson after he put her in a headlock.

“You killed Holly by stabbing her four times,” Judge Hirst told Metson. “You then moved her to the bathroom where you dismembered her with a number of tools.”

Judge Hirst said Metson then went to the village of Bassingham a week later to dispose of the remains after paying Hancock £100 ($210) to help him get rid of the body parts.

Victim impact statements read out in court by Bramley’s mother and siblings suggested the 26-year-old had been subjected to “coercive control and manipulation” by the “evil monster” and their marriage had “broken down irretrievably”.

The couple married in 2021 but were on the verge of separating when Metson carried out the murder, the court heard.

The court heard Metson received a referral order in 2013 for a domestic assault on a previous partner.

Holly Bramley and Nicholas Metson were on the verge of separating when Metson carried out the murder. Photo / Supplied

In 2016 Metson was also given a community order for three offences of disclosing sexual images relating to another previous partner.

A year later Metson admitted breaching a restraining order relating to the same victim.

Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC told the judge Lincolnshire Police were called to the couple’s flat on March 24, 2023 because of concern for Bramley’s welfare.

Officers visited the home the following day and noticed a strong smell of ammonia and bleach, bloodstained sheets in the bathtub and a towel on the kitchen floor.

There was evidence of recent redecoration and cleaning. The police also spotted a number of large dark stains on the floor in the main bedroom, which later turned out to be Bramley’s blood, Aspden said.

Metson told officers his wife had been abusive to him, showing them a bite mark on his forearm, and she had left home with a local mental health support group on March 19.

Police subsequently found Metson had told lies to officers, who later returned to conduct a search of the flat.

“At one point Mr Metson joked she might be hiding under the bed,” said Aspden.

‘What benefits do I get if my wife dies?’

The following day a walker “made a grim discovery” when he noticed plastic bags and a “Bag For Life” floating in the River Witham at Bassingham, one of which contained a human hand, he said.

Police divers recovered 224 remains of Bramley’s body but some of her body parts, including parts of her heart, were never recovered, the court heard.

Aspden said it was likely the 26-year-old was stabbed multiple times in the bedroom before being moved to the bathroom, where she was dismembered. Her remains were then stored in the kitchen larder before being placed into the bags.

After murdering his wife, Metson withdrew £50 from her bank account and searched on the internet “What benefits do I get if my wife dies” and “Can someone haunt me after they die”.

CCTV footage played in court showed Bramley was last seen alive returning to her flat on March 17.

Further CCTV footage showed Metson wearing a rucksack and using the flat’s lift and a Morrisons shopping trolley to move bags from the 14th floor to the ground floor in the early hours of March 25. They were then placed in Metson’s yellow Peugeot car.

Family left in ‘unimaginable pain’

In court, Bramley’s mother, Annette Bramley, addressed Metson directly, telling him he had condemned her family “to a life sentence of grief”.

“The heinous way in which she was murdered and dismembered has left us in such unimaginable pain,” she said.

Annette Bramley said Metson’s controlling and coercive behaviour had also left the family unable to see Holly in the years before her death.

Metson previously admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by disposing of Bramley’s body on March 25 2023, and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment which will run alongside his life sentence.

He originally denied the murder but later pleaded guilty when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court last month.

Hancock, also 28, pleaded guilty to obstructing the Lincolnshire Coroner in the execution of his duty by helping to dispose of Bramley’s body, and was jailed for three years and three months.