Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Steve Sansom, a builder, has been handed a whole life sentence with partner for the brutal murder and dismemberment of Sarah Mayhew in Croydon last spring.
He was out of prison on a life license for another murder when he killed Sarah Mayhew, 38-year-old, and dumped her in Rowdown Fields, in New Addington.
The Old Bailey, Central Criminal Court, heard statements from the 45-year-old and his 49-year-old partner Gemma Watts, who have admitted to murder and perverting the course of justice by dismembering Ms. Mayhew’s body, spreading the pieces at “various locations,” and cleaning up the scene.
Samson was given a life sentence for murder by Mrs. Justice Cutts, along with a whole life order, indicating he will never be allowed to leave jail.
In addition, he received a five-year term for perverting the court system to run concurrently.
Watts was given a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years in jail and five years for perverting the legal system to run consecutively.
The judge said:
“Her fear and suffering must have been acute as she realised why she was there and what was happening.
She was an innocent woman lured to that flat to die in order for you could both act out your bloodthirsty and wicked fantasy.”
What are the key details of the Sarah Mayhew murder case?
At the trial hearing, Sansom, from Sutton in south-west London, and Watts, from New Addington, sat silently in the dock while information about their “kinky” sexual relationship—which included a series of texts about humiliation—was described.
They engaged in “depraved conversation,” and the explicit communications they exchanged quickly progressed beyond mere fantasy.
According to the judge, Watts participated in the murder because he was obsessed with Sansom, who “had murder in mind.”
The judge added: “There is clear and proper inference in my view that this murder involved sexual and sadistic conduct.”
After joining Samson, whom she had met years earlier on a dating site, at his ground floor flat in Sutton at approximately 11 p.m. on March 8, 2024, Ms Mayhew, who resided in New Addington, on the outskirts of Croydon, was never seen again. Watts was on the property already.
Just over three weeks later, on April 2, 2024, Ms Mayhew’s head and limbs were found in Rowdown Field in New Addington, more than eight miles distant. The court heard that some pieces of evidence were destroyed or disposed of by the defendants after her torso was found in the River Wandle much later.
According to the prosecutor, Mr. Little KC, Ms. Mayhew must have been killed or rendered incapacitated inside Sansom’s apartment on the evening of March 8–9, 2024. Based on the messages exchanged between the defendants in the preceding months. He said it is not credible to conclude that she was killed immediately.
Later, Sansom attempted to defend their actions by stating:“We’re not evil, we done the world a service.”
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court:
“The defendants acting together conducted the planned and premeditated bloodthirsty murder of Sarah Mayhew.
It is a murder which the prosecution submit involved sexual and/or sadistic conduct. Having committed the murder they then made very extensive efforts to pervert the course of justice over a number of days.
Prior to the murder, the defendants had exchanged a range of depraved messages including those indicating a desire on their part to kill victims whilst involved in sexual activity with them, with a knife or knives, and then have sex with each other whilst covered in the blood of the victim and they even discussed eating human flesh but we do not suggest they did so.”
The court heard that on September 11, 2023, Sansom left Watts a voicemail with the following message: “Everything looks like meat now don’t they? A plaything, something to cut, something to bleed, they all look different now.”
According to the prosecution, Samson and Watts made the decision to dismember Ms. Mayhew’s body by March 10, 2024.
He purchased a 14-liter bucket, a 300mm hacksaw, and a 300mm blade with cash that day. Ms. Mayhew’s clothes were not found in a garden that had been burned in an incinerator.
Samson and Watts were spotted strolling by the River Wandle and close to his flat in the days following the alleged murder. At one point, he is seen dragging a suitcase that is “noticeably heavier” than previously because “it now contained Sarah Mayhew’s torso,” according to Mr Little.
Ms. Mayhew’s mother, Angela, recalled her as a “beautiful, pretty girl” in a victim impact statement, adding that “it breaks my heart she is not around.”
David, Ms. Mayhew’s father, expressed gratitude to the offenders for entering a guilty plea and saving his family from having to deal with a trial in this “horrendous case.”
He went on to say: “That said, whatever sentence you may receive will never compare to the pain you have caused us.”
“I ask myself the same question all the time, why did you have to kill her? Maybe I will never know.”
What is the background of Sansom’s previous murder case?
Sansom was imprisoned in May 1999 after confessing to killing and robbing a minicab driver on Christmas Eve of the year before after he called for a ride from East Croydon.
Terence Boyle, 59-year-old, a married father of two, was the victim in that instance. He had fled his taxi after Sansom had attacked him and stolen £25 to buy gifts.
Afterward, Sansom, who was 20 at the time, told a friend while laughing, “His kids are going to have to see him in hospital over Christmas.”
After the Parole Board reviewed his case, he was released from jail on a license in 2019 and was under probation when he committed his second murder.
The Ministry of Justice has acknowledged that a review of serious additional offences is now underway.