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A husband who cut his wife’s body into 224 pieces before paying a friend £50 to help him dump her remains in a river has been jailed for life.
Nicholas Metson, 28, stabbed Holly Bramley, 26, at least four times in March 2023 before dismembering her and keeping her body parts stored for a week in the kitchen larder at the flat they shared in Lincoln.
Lincoln Crown Court heard Metson tried to cover up his “barbaric” act by buying large amounts of cleaning products and enlisting his school friend Joshua Hancock, 28, to help move the body parts to the River Witham in Bassingham after offering him £50 to help with a “job”.
He also used her Facebook account to message her friends and trick them into thinking she was still alive, claiming she had left him and moved to Manchester while sending himself money from her bank account.
A search of his mobile phone later revealed Metson had made Google searches including “How to get rid of a dead body”, “What benefits can I get if my wife dies” and “Does God forgive murder”.
Ms Bramley’s remains were discovered by a member of the public in the river on the evening of March 25 – more than a week after she was last seen. The man who found the body initially thought the remains belonged to an animal until he noticed a human hand. Some of Ms Bramley’s remains, including parts of her heart, have never been recovered.
Metson initially denied murder before changing his plea to guilty before the trial. On Monday, he was jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 19 years and 316 days.
Branding him an “evil monster” who had convinced his wife that her family were abusive, Ms Bramley’s mother Annette said her family had suffered “unimaginable pain”.
Describing her daughter as “beautiful, kind and loving”, she said: “Her last moments being filled with pain will haunt us forever. Her life was taken by someone who quite clearly has no regard for human life.
“We were prevented from seeing Holly in the years leading up to her murder. We were prevented from seeing her before her death and due to his monstrous actions, he made sure we were prevented from seeing her after her death.
“Holly will always be in our hearts, we will never forget her and the impact she had on our lives.”
The court heard how, before her remains were found, and while Ms Bramley was missing, Lincolnshire Police attended the flat she and Metson shared. Metson told officers his wife had left their home on 19 March with two members of a local mental health crisis team.
Officers noticed a “strong smell of bleach and ammonia” in the flat, a saw on a towel, bloodstained sheets in their bathroom and a large bloodstain on their bedroom floor.
After police established that what Metson had told them about his wife’s disappearance was a lie, he was arrested and charged with her murder and perverting the course of justice.
As well as his sinister search history, he had also had sent a message to Hancock, of Walnut Close in Waddington, in the early hours of March 25 offering him money in return for help with a “job”.
Hancock was arrested on April 5 and charged with obstructing a coroner.
Extensive CCTV searches revealed Metson moving a large number of bags from his flat on the 14th floor into a lift before putting them into his yellow Peugeot in the early hours of 25 March.
Metson, who initially denied killing his wife but changed his plea to guilty on 23 February, and Hancock, who pleaded guilty to disposal of a corpse with intent to obstruct or prevent a coroner’s inquest at the same hearing, faced members of Ms Bramley’s distraught family in court on Friday.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Hirst said that it was “plain” that Ms Bramley was “a much loved young woman”.
He said: “She is described by her mother as beautiful, kind, and loving. It is also plain that Holly’s friends have been left with a void that will never be filled in their lives.”
