Couple accused of decapitating and chopping up drug user with saw boasted to 'do it again and eat him'

Shotton's dismembered legs had been found in a series of packages along the Manor Steps Zig Zag footpath and in public gardens by Bournemouth's Boscombe Beach in August 2023.

A member of the public had been sheltering from the rain under a tree by the path when one of the packages landed on the ground next to her, a jury at Winchester Crown Court was told yesterday.

Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting, said the woman had taken a closer look at the parcel before she realised it was foot-shaped, prompting her to call the police.

He said the woman noticed the package "smelt badly" as if "something was rotting" but convinced herself there was "nothing to worry about", and decided to walk away.

Cavin said: "As she approached the bench where she had previously sheltered she thought that the package had been moved and the grey masking tape looked loose.

"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."

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Cavin said: "He was murdered, his body was dismembered and various body parts were discovered in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth last summer - the facts surrounding this case are grisly."

Dorset Police then launched an investigation and cordoned off the footpath, before they found another package with a leg inside.

DNA testing confirmed all the body parts belonged to Shotton; in court, Cavin said a pathologist had described the removal of the 48-year-old's legs as "an amateur's job", noting they had not been surgically amputated.

Authorities identified Atkins and Pereira, both from Bournemouth, as suspects - in a sweep of the couple's garden, officers found two black bin bags with Shotton's arms inside.

Cavin said: "A search officer followed what he described as 'the smell of death' to a hedgerow where he discovered a substantial black suitcase."

He added that officers had found "flies" on the suitcase, and noted a "stench of death which was immediate and intense" - before discovering "a headless human torso" inside.

Pereira had told police that Shotton used heroin and crack cocaine, and had visited the couple's flat to take the class A drugs with them, the court heard.

Cavin said Atkins and Pereira were recorded talking about the severed limbs as they were taken to a magistrates' court hearing in a police van.

He told the court: "Ms Pereira asks Mr Atkins: 'Do you regret anything?'. Chillingly, he responds: '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****r.'"

Pereira alleged Atkins had shouted at Shotton one evening - later, she woke up to find her partner in their garden burning a fire and sawing with a "saw from Wilko's".

Atkins has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and preventing the burial of a corpse, though he denied his murder charge, and said he had been acting in lawful self-defence.

Pereira has pleaded not guilty to murder, perverting the course of justice, and preventing the burial of a corpse.

The trial continues.