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Ewan Methven has been jailed for life for the murder of Phoenix Spencer-Horn.
An evil killer who murdered and decapitated his girlfriend at their home in East Kilbride has been jailed for 23 years.
Ewan Methven killed Phoenix Spencer-Horn, 21, at a flat they shared in South Lanarkshire last November.
The 27 year-old Royal Mail postman later dialled 999 himself insisting he had a drug-induced blackout and could not remember what he had done.
But, it emerged after stabbing the 21 year-old to death, he mutilated her body, pretended to her mother she was still alive while also trawling the internet for porn for hours.
Methven admitted to the gruesome murder as he appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow. Judge Lord Matthews ordered Methven to spend at least 23 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
The judge said: “You pleaded guilty to a dreadful crime, namely the murder of Phoenix Spencer-Horn who was a much loved and sorely missed daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend.
“At age 21 and 134 days she was standing at the threshold of what should have been a long fulfilling life. You were a trusted member of her family and you betrayed that trust and robbed her of a life in the cruelest way.
“For reasons no-one will ever understand you strangled her and stabbed her 20 times, including 10 in the face. Not content with what you did to her, you robbed her of all dignity in death by decapitating her and tried to dismember her in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice. I saw a letter written by you which answers none of the questions.
“You blame substances, but that is not an excuse. I have rarely read such outpourings of grief as are contained in the Victim Impact Statements from her family, who have endeavoured to put into words what can never truly be encapsulated, the sadness and the deep sense of loss they all feel and will continue to feel thanks to what you did.
“The way you treated her after her death meant that her family didn’t have the comfort of saying goodbye to her. No punishment I can inflect or what I can say or do can be enough and the only sentence that I can impose is life.
Members of Phoenix’s grieving relatives were at the sentencing. The couple had started dating two years before the killing. They had recently moved into the top floor one-bedroom flat in East Kilbride.
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Methven was employed by the Royal Mail while Phoenix – known as ‘Phe’ – held part times jobs at both the Strathaven Hotel and a local coffee shop.
Phoenix had been working on November 16 – she was described as in “good spirits”. Methven had texted her during her shift complaining of feeling “lonely” due to her hours. Phoenix apologised to her boyfriend.
The postman had also been working that morning. He told a colleague he was then going home to “chill”. Methven ordered a takeaway that night and the couple ate when Phoenix got back.
The young woman had contacted her mum at 9.37pm stating she was at home having dinner. The court heard this was the last communication she had with her daughter.
It was around midnight that a downstairs neighbour heard “loud noise and hurried footsteps”.
Prosecutor Chris McKenna said: “This coincided with increased activity recorded in an app measuring steps at 12.13am which was discovered upon later interrogation of Methven’s phone.
“At that time, around or shortly after midnight on November 16 through to November 17, Methven attacked Phoenix by compressing her neck and repeatedly stabbing her to the head and body.”
The court then heard of Methven’s sick behaviour as his girlfriend lay dead including hacking at her with knives. He repeatedly arranged to buy drugs via contact on his phone.
Phoenix’s mum Alison Spencer had also tried contacting her daughter on the morning of November 17. Methven instead got in touch initially claiming “Phe is not up yet” and that he would get her to message when she was.
The sick killer then later pretended to be his girlfriend and sent a text to Alison. It stated: “Hey sorry I’ve just woken up xxx”. Another claimed Phoenix was apparently “all good”. The court heard, minutes after this, Methven logged on to the adult websites.
Mr McKenna: “Throughout the day on November 17, analysis of his phone and search history revealed that, for prolonged period over several hours, he accessed pornography from 8.12am through to 6.39pm.
“He was noted to have accessed a pornographic video site 170 times.” Methven was also captured on CCTV driving Phoenix’s red Vauxhall Corsa.
Concerns were raised when Phoenix did not turn up for work on November 18. Methen then went on to dial 999 that afternoon stating he had had “a drug induced psychotic break” and that he had “killed” his girlfriend.
He told the operator: “The past day I have been trying to kind of muster up the courage to phone.” Methven added Phoenix remained in the hall with a knife beside her. He said he had been taking steroids and cocaine, which he believed had been spiked.
Methven: “I totally blacked out through the full thing.” He mentioned having “stabbed” and “choked” Phoenix adding: “It was f***ing horrible.”
Asked by an officer who came on the line if Phoenix could still be alive, Methven replied: “I know she is dead, mate – she is dead.” Police soon arrived and made the grim discovery of Phoenix’s remains.
Mr McKenna: “Phoenix’s naked and mutilated body with her head decapitated was discovered by police covered up within the hall of their home.
“An attempt had also been made by him to sever her torso, right wrist and ankle from her body. There were two bloodstained knives lying next to the mutilated body. A further bloodstained knife was found discarded in the bedroom.”
Methven was described as “calm”. Among the remarks Methven made on his arrest were: “I could not stay here with her like that. I tried to dismember her. I moved her from the bath and put her there.”
After he was put in a police cell, he said: “I guess this is what my next 25 years look like.” The full extent of Phoenix’s injuries were revealed at the hearing.
She had suffered a total of 20 stab wounds – the fatal one to the chest. There were others in that area as well as to the face and buttocks.
Methven also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice including the mutilation of Phoenix’s body and lying to her mum.
His KC Tony Graham today told the sentencing that he was “unable to offer an explanation to why the course of events led to her death other than his admission of drugs.”
The advocate quoted Methven who said: “I know how loved she was and how she made her family complete and I can’t believe I took her from them.”
Mr Graham then stated in his mitigation: “Mr Methven appreciates there may be voids in relation to his memory and his ability to give an account of what took place.
“He has flashbacks to what took place but no real memory into how things occurred and progressed to the destruction of human life.
“He appreciates in the whole circumstances that during the two year relationship he was adopted [by her family] and to that family he delivered the ultimate betrayal.”
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