1 month ago
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A 'controlling' husband murdered his wife before chopping up her body and storing the remains in their flat for a week – before dumping the body parts in plastic bags and a 'bag for life' in a river.
'Evil monster' Nicholas Metson, 28, had joked to police that Holly Bramley 'might be hiding under the bed' when officers were searching for her, a judge was told.
The 26-year-old's remains were eventually found eight days after she was last seen.
The court heard Metson had a history of being cruel to animals, and the Mail can reveal sick Metson had previously punished his wife by killing their pets in gruesome fashion.
A source said the killer once dumped Ms Bramley's new puppy in a washing machine, leaving her to discover the dead dog inside with the drum still spinning.
Nicholas Metson, 28, knifed his wife at their flat before chopping up her body and storing the remains at the property for a week
Holly Bramley, 26, had been married to Metson for just 16 months. Her remains were eventually found eight days after she was last seen
On other occasions Ms Bramley confided that her partner had killed her hamsters by putting them in a food blender and the microwave oven, and once fled to a police station with her pet rabbits to escape him.
The source said Miss Bramley 'never explained why he had done it', and said she believed the victim was 'controlled and manipulated' by her husband.
'She told us she loved him, but the first time I met him I took an instant dislike to him', the source continued. 'There was just something about him.'
The court heard the pair – who had been married just 16 months – were on the verge of separating when Metson repeatedly knifed her at their flat.
Afterwards, he searched online to find out 'What benefits do I get if my wife has died' and 'Can someone haunt me after they die.'
The court heard Metson received a referral order in 2013 for a domestic assault on a previous partner.
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 said police launched a murder investigation after body parts belonging to Ms Bramley, a triplet, were found in the River Witham - 10 miles from her Lincoln flat - in March last year.
Lincolnshire Police had received a call expressing concern for Ms Bramley's safety on 24 March and when Metson eventually answered the door he claimed he had been the victim of a domestic assault from Ms Bramley the previous weekend - showing the officers a bite mark which the judge was told was most likely inflicted in self-defence by Ms Bramley was she was killed.
Holly Bramley and Nicholas Metson pictured together. The couple were on the verge of separating when Metson repeatedly knifed Holly at their flat
Mr Aspden said there were bloodstained sheets in the bath and a saw on the kitchen floor, and the flat smelt strongly of bleach.
Metson claimed he had no idea where his wife was, and told 'a pack of lies' that she had left five days earlier with women from a local mental health support group.
Police carried out a further search of the flat later that day. Lincoln Crown Court heard the saw had now been moved into a cupboard 'but there was no sign of Holly'.
Mr Aspen added: 'At one point Mr Metson joked she might be hiding under the bed.'
Metson was arrested on suspicion of murder but gave a no comment interview to the police. Garden pruners, two knives and a claw hammer were also recovered from the property.
At 6pm on March 25 a member of the public noticed a number of plastic in the River Witham at Bassingham, a village ten miles away, and examined one of the bags. Inside was a severed hand.
Police divers recovered 224 remains of Ms Bramley's body from the bags, including her head which had been shaved. It took a Home Office Pathologist over 13 hours to examine everything, but such was the dismemberment the pathologist was unable to establish an exact cause of death.
Mr Aspden said Miss Bramley injuries went far beyond what was necessary to dismember her body.
'In short after murdering Holly he destroyed her,' Mr Aspden added.
Mr Aspden said CCTV from the tower block where Metson and Ms Bramley lived showed him using the flat's lift to move bags, with the aid of a shopping trolley, from their 14th floor flat to his car in the early hours of March 25, and later withdrew £50 from his wife's bank account.
He said: 'The most likely scenario is that Mr Metson murdered Holly in the bedroom, dismembered her body in the bath, and then stored her body in the kitchen larder, before bagging her remains up.'
The court heard Metson had recruited school friend, Joshua Hancock, also 28, early the same morning to help dispose of Ms Bramley's body parts.
The next day, March 26, a message on Hancock's phone stated 'just got £50 for disposing of a body.'
Metson met his victim, one of 13 siblings who grew up in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, at a college and began a relationship in 2016.
Miss Bramley's mother, Annette Bramley, read out a moving victim impact statement in court, describing Metson as an 'evil monster' who had given the family 'a life sentence of grief.'
Mrs Bramley said Metson's controlling and coercive behaviour had also left the family unable to see Ms Bramley in the years before her death.
Metson pleaded guilty to murder last month. He had previously admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by disposing of Ms Bramley's body on 25 March.
Hancock, also 28, of Waddington, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to obstructing a coroner in the execution of his duty by helping to dispose of Ms Bramley's body.
Allison Summers KC, defending Metson, argued Metson's diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder was a factor in the murder and said there was no evidence of planning or an intention to kill.
'Something caused this young man to take this extreme course of action,' Miss Summer submitted.
Metson and Hancock will be sentenced on Monday.
