Monster GUILTY of murdering, decapitating and dismembering lodger as girlfriend also convicted over gruesome death
A MONSTER has been found guilty of murdering, decapitating and dismembering his lodger before boasting about eating his cheeks.
Simon Shotton was killed by 48-year-old Benjamin Lee Atkins in Bournemouth.
The 48-year-old’s limbs were removed with a saw and his legs dumped in a plastic bag on a cliffside path.
Atkins, who previously admitted perverting the course of justice and preventing the burial of a corpse, was today convicted of murder.
His partner Debbie Ann Pereira, 38, was cleared of murder but found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Winchester Crown Court heard the horror unfolded in August last year when Simon’s remains were sprinkled across Bournemouth.
Pedestrian Dana Burton was handing out leaflets on the seafront when she sought shelter from the rain under a tree.
A “large package” then landed in front of her that “smelt badly” as if something was rotting.
Ms Burton originally left the package but later examined it when she realised it had moved and the grey masking tape on it was loose.
Prosecutor Paul Cavin KC said: “She went up to the package and realised that the shape was that of a human foot and some of it had become exposed.
“Those observations combined with the appalling smell made her realise that she ought to report it to the police.”
Officers searched the area around the Manor Steps Zig Zag, a path leading to the beach, and discovered another leg.
Simon’s headless torso was later found in a black suitcase in Boscombe Chine Gardens after a cop followed “the smell of death”.
A post mortem was carried out and a pathologist noted the amputations were “amateur enough they had not been surgically removed”.
Police identified Simon using the remains and established he had been squatting in a “derelict” bed and breakfast in Boscombe.
Officers were able to track down Atkins and Pereira after they flogged Simon’s phone in a Cash Creators shop nearby.
Police later found Simon’s severed arms in two bin bags outside the couple’s home.
Pereira and Atkins were charged and taken to Poole Magistrates’ Court unaware that police had set up a “covert device” in the back of the van.
She had asked her boyfriend, “Do you regret anything?” causing him to reply, “I’ll look ‘em straight in the eye and say, ‘Yeah. I’d do it again and again and again.
“If you let me go today, I’d find another one and do it again. Drug dealers, and pushers. Kill, decapitate, and eat the f***er.”
Atkins also boasted about how he “cooked” Shotton’s head and “ate his cheeks”, jurors were told.
He could also be heard telling his girlfriend: “I went into the garden to get rid of the f***ing arms.”
Pereira later told police: “[Atkins] told his solicitor that if he admitted that he did it, if he admitted that he cooked Simon’s head up and ate his cheeks, would it get me off the hook.”
She also claimed Simon had been staying at her home two weeks before his death but Atkins “did not like” him as he did not give them enough drugs.
Pereira said she heard shouting one night and later woke up to find Atkins in the garden by a fire sawing.
In his evidence, Atkins admitted he killed Simon at the couple’s home but claimed he acted in self defence.
Recalling the horror, he added: “I pulled his body into the garden, covered him up. Later in the evening, when Debs was asleep, I went into the garden and I cut him up.
“I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t under the influence, I wouldn’t have cut him up, I was scared, I was traumatised, I was panicked, I was under extreme stress as well as under the influence.
“What I done was truly awful, it’s horrendous what I have done and I deserve to be punished for what I have done.
“I am sorry to his family, I am sorry to my family. It’s difficult for me to be remorseful to a man who was trying to kill me in my own house.”
Both Atkins and Pereira were remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on July 26.
Kirsty Gordon, a Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: “This was a truly disturbing case which shocked the residents of Bournemouth and its surrounding towns.
“Atkins and Pereira’s cruelty and lack of humanity is laid bare – after Mr Shotton was murdered by Atkins in cold blood over a minor dispute, they robbed him of the dignity of a proper burial.
“We worked closely with Dorset Police, whose meticulous investigation work greatly aided our ability to deliver swift justice in an incredibly complex case where evidence continued to unfold months after the defendants were charged.
“Our thoughts remain firmly with Mr Shotton’s family and we hope today’s verdict will, in time, be of some comfort to them.”