All language subtitles for murder.uk.s03e08.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

(tense music)

I'm David Wilson,
emeritus professor of criminology.

And for over 30 years,
I've investigated

the phenomenon of murder
and what it is that might

motivate someone to kill.

Every murder case is different.

But time and again,
a deadly pattern emerges

of warning signs and red flags.

In this new series,
I investigate some of the UK's

most harrowing murder cases
to understand how and why

these terrible crimes occur.

This is Murder UK.

(gloomy music)

In Brighouse, West Yorkshire,
48-year-old Dawn Walker

is bringing up
her two youngest daughters.

(Kiera-Lee Guest) My mum
was outgoing and really the life

and soul of the party,
and she was just herself,

always, and told the truth.

(Kelaina Guest) My mum was funny.

She could walk into a room,
and the whole room

would just lighten up.

Definitely loud.

You could hear her
even if she wasn't there.

(Kiera-Lee) And she'd
always make sure that

everyone was cared for
and loved and happy,

even if she wasn't, you know?

So very selfless.

You know, she was my best friend.

She loved the kids. She did.
She loved them.

(David Wilson) By 2018, 12 years
had passed since Dawn's divorce.

(Kiera-Lee) She tried dating,
but, you know,

it would never be the one,
not the one she was looking for.

(Kelaina) She just wanted
someone because her children

were growing up
and moving on with their lives.

(David) In the spring of that year,
Dawn meets a man online...

Thomas Nutt.

He's a scrap metal dealer
with three children

from a previous relationship.

(Kiera-Lee) The first time she
mentioned Thomas is when

she was like, I'm speaking to
this guy, and, you know, he seems,

like, really lovely and...

and I was like, go for it.

You know, it makes you happy.

(Kelaina) I felt like she deserved
to be with someone and that,

after so long of not being with
someone, she deserved to be happy.

(David) Not everyone
in Dawn's family, however,

was impressed by
the new man in her life.

(Ginny Walker)
It was my 70th birthday.

He came into the pub
to pick our Dawn up.

I said hi to him.

You shouldn't really judge
a book by its cover, I know.

But you know
when you've got a feeling that

we knew there was something
not right.

None of us liked him.

(David) Barely eight weeks
into the relationship,

Dawn Walker and Thomas Nutt
decide to live together.

(Kelaina)
When I first met Thomas,

he was actually moving his things
into our home.

I remember my mum
coming in and saying,

Thomas has got nowhere to live.
His mum's kicked him out.

And Thomas is bringing boxes
upon boxes upon boxes,

laughing and joking
that he's moving in.

(Veronica Lamarche)
She probably sees someone

who's both charismatic
and friendly and outgoing,

and that can be really exciting,
especially if she's been spending

most of her time
socialising with herself

or even her family, who she loves,

but not having that other outlet
to interact with

and socialise with quite as much.

And also, it would
probably feel really validating

and special for her to be
getting that kind of positivity

and attention,
especially after so many years

without those kinds
of interactions.

(suspenseful music)

(David) Thomas Nutt didn't
just want to live with Dawn.

He wanted to dominate
her entire life.

He wanted to impose himself
on every aspect of her life.

And he does that through what many
people would call love bombing.

And what that love bombing would do
in the short term

is make Dawn feel valued,
feel validated.

But ironically,
what that will also do

is isolate her
from family and friends

who might have been able
to give her support.

But she's going to become
more and more isolated

because the love bombing is,
in fact, grooming her.

(Ginny) She just, I think,
just jumped into it

because he showed her
all the attention,

everything she wanted to hear.

Turned out to be wrong.

(ominous music)

(Kiera-Lee) When I started working
as a waitress,

I used to treat my mum
every time I got paid.

So we'd go out for something to
eat and, you know, have a laugh

and have proper, like,
daughter and mother time.

And it was just really nice.

And then, suddenly,
Thomas moving in,

after that,
it would just go downhill,

and I would never see my mum.

Thomas would try to take
that time away from my mum

with being with her daughters.

So that monthly treat of me taking
her out, I wasn't allowed to do.

And it got to a point
where I wasn't allowed

to go into my mum's bedroom
just to talk, to...

like, stand in my mum's
bedroom and talk,

like as you would do.

I wasn't allowed to go in.

(David) Dawn's daughters
soon saw other worries

in Thomas Nutt's behaviour.

Thomas would always
be snappy at my mum

and say, like, certain
degrading comments towards her,

like she wasn't allowed
to wear little vest tops

with the tiny strap because
people could see her breasts more.

Or she weren't allowed to
wear certain, like, outfits.

So she had a pair of shorts
she wouldn't... like,

she'd have to change to leggings.

He said certain things, like,
without me, you have nothing,

and I'm the man, and you
are just a small woman

with no place to go, basically.

I think he proper degraded her
to the point where

she thought she was worthless.

(David) The behaviour that
Dawn's daughters describe

isn't just a man being snappy.

This is what we would call more
technically coercive control.

Nutt is beginning to control
every aspect of Dawn's life...

the clothes that she wears,
where her finances might be spent.

And of course,
the more he's in control

of all those aspects of her life,

the more degraded
her self-worth must be.

She is constantly being told that,
without him, she's nothing.

And of course, that further sense
of being isolated and alone

is one in which Nutt can exploit
to his own advantage.

(Kelaina) She wasn't allowed
to phone all the time,

and Thomas would always
check on her phone.

And it was always about him.

It was never about us.

She'd push us away more than
what she'd ever do.

It was all just a big change,
and it were a bit hard to accept.

(ominous music)

After just a few months,
the atmosphere in the house

has become so toxic that
Kelaina and Kiera-Lee

felt they had no choice
but to move out.

They simply could no longer handle
being around Nutt any longer.

(Veronica) The fact that
Nutt persuades Dawn

to get her daughters to move out
of the house and to maybe

break connection with them really
speaks to his controlling nature.

He understands that
the daughters are the ones

who can break
his connection with Dawn

and break his control over Dawn.

And so by putting a wedge between
them and their relationship,

it allows him to have more control
and more influence over Dawn.

(David) 18 months
into the relationship,

Dawn's daughters are
rarely in the house.

Nutt's influence is now total...

controlling her money,
her movements,

and ultimately her entire life.

(Kelaina) She had no control
over anything.

He controlled her own money.

He controlled the phone.

He controlled basically
where she went.

And if she was out without him,

he'd be calling her phone
every five minutes

to the point where she'd leave

because she were fed up
of him calling.

I just felt like my mum were
trapped and she couldn't escape.

(Sallie Bennett-Jenkins) We have
a picture that Dawn is subject

to a coercive
and controlling behaviour.

There were changes
in her personality

that were noted
by those closest to her.

From being an outgoing woman,
she became quite withdrawn.

She was cutting herself off from
friends, from her children even.

We know, as well, that
he exerted a degree of control

over who it was
she could communicate with.

Not only did he
take her mobile phone,

but also we know that
he controlled her finances.

He had her cards,
and her access, therefore,

to money was extremely limited.

(Ginny) We all tried to
say things to our Dawn,

but she didn't really
listen to anybody.

I think she were just listening
to her heart, not her head.

(Kiera-Lee) After Christmas,
I came for a holiday,

and I remember we went
out that day, me and Mum.

We had a really nice time.

We've come home, and she started,
like, coughing and sneezing,

and she started getting
a really high temperature.

So she went upstairs,
and she didn't make tea.

So Thomas took himself upstairs
and started shouting.

So I've gone upstairs,
and I've shouted at Thomas,

like, why do you feel the need
to shout at her like that?

You're a grown man.
You can make your own tea.

You know, she doesn't need to
bow down and kiss your feet.

And he started
getting into my face

and gripping me in my shoulders

to the point where
he threw me on my mum's bed.

So I kicked him off me.

He was like, you're just a jealous
little girl with nowhere to live,

nowhere to go, and no one to love.

He then come into the bedroom
I was staying in,

and he looked at me.

Like, you can see in his eyes,
there was this look that

Thomas gave you when he was angry.

And Thomas pushed my head
onto the side of a wall,

and it just started
running with blood.

I mean, that scared me.

(Ginny) Kiera came
running out of the house,

and she said what Thomas had done.

And our Dawn was crying,
and I just shouted to her.

I said, what are you doing
letting him

put his hands on my granddaughter?

I went, your daughter.

I know, Mum, I know.

I'm like, where is he?
She went, he's gone.

(Kiera-Lee)
My mum was just stood there like,

I don't know what to do.
I love him, but he'd done that.

He didn't mean to do that.

And I was like, Mum, look what
he's done for no apparent reason.

You didn't make him tea,
so he bashed my head in.

And she was like,
I just don't know what to do.

She tried to make excuses for his
behaviour and why he turned

and his switch went from 0 to 100,

but I knew she were going to
get back with him.

(David) Of course, the common sense
question that people always ask

in these circumstances is,
why does the woman stay

in a relationship that's abusive?

And what people don't,
I think, understand

is that there are a number
of psychological reasons

why they stay.

And we always have to remember,

when they choose to leave
is, ironically,

the time when they're most
at danger.

But often people will stay
because of trauma bonding.

Often they will stay because of
learned helplessness,

that they believe that somehow they
can't survive without the person

who's actually abusing them.

Despite the shocking attack
on her own daughter,

Dawn decides to continue her
relationship with Thomas Nutt.

(Ginny) It wasn't our Dawn.

Our Dawn wouldn't have done that.

Never in a million years.

So I don't know.

I don't know what he had over her.

I just don't know.

(suspenseful music)

(Emma Covington)
My name is Emma Covington.

I'm a senior crown prosecutor,
and I was

the reviewing lawyer in this case.

For Dawn to leave this
particular relationship,

it would have meant
her leaving her home,

leaving where
she felt comfortable,

leaving her community effectively.

And those are massive things to do
when you are already somebody

who is extremely vulnerable
because you are being abused

by somebody
who you trust the most.

(David) Kiera-Lee, heartbroken
by her mother's decision,

makes an equally difficult choice.

She won't report the assault
she suffered to the police.

(Kiera-Lee) I didn't want
the police coming to Mum's door.

I didn't want it
to affect her life.

(David) The COVID pandemic
sweeps Britain,

and with it, lockdown rules
are introduced and enforced.

This further isolates Dawn Walker.

She's now trapped in her home
with the man

who's assaulted her daughter and
cut her off from her own family.

Wherever my mum was,
Thomas would be a foot behind.

Go to the back garden,
that's where he'd go.

Mum's going to the front to say
good morning to the neighbours

at 8:00, he's going to be there.

And she didn't have
control of her life.

(David) As bad as things
appeared to those who loved Dawn,

the danger was about to escalate...

because Nutt was harbouring a
secret and violently abusive past.

This is a man who has a
long-standing history of violence

against women and girls,
particularly

those that he's in a close,
intimate relationship with.

(David) As the lockdown continues,
a desperate attempt

is made to reach Dawn.

One of Nutt's former partners
contacts her.

She needs Dawn to know
the truth about him.

In 2015,
his ex-partner was assaulted

by him in front of their child.

He punched her to the head
and caused a wound.

And in fact, she obtained
a restraining order

as a result of that incident.

She was worried that he would
go on and kill somebody.

And in fact, that's the reason why
she got in touch with Dawn Walker,

to warn her
that she was in danger.

(ominous music)

The fact that Mr Nutt's ex-partner
felt the need to warn Dawn

shows just how significant
that violence

has been throughout his
previous offending history.

(David) I often say that the best
indication of future behaviour

is previous behaviour,
and strangulation, therefore,

is a likely behaviour
that he will use

within his relationship with Dawn.

And of course, with strangulation,
you're just a few breaths away

from taking someone's life.

But even as she receives this
lifeline, this desperate warning,

Dawn is not free to respond.

Dawn did, in fact, say
to Mr Nutt's previous girlfriend

that she could only text her
at certain times

because he had access
to her mobile phone

and he was very controlling.

There then became a point
within those conversations

where Dawn had to say,
can you please stop messaging me?

Because I don't want Nutt
to find out that

I've been in contact with you.

She was clearly trapped.

She was clearly frightened.
She was clearly conflicted.

(Kiera-Lee)
About a week later,

I got a phone call
from my mum's phone.

So, obviously, I answered it,
like, hi, Mum.

So a woman answered saying, hi,
it's the next-door neighbour.

Your mum has been assaulted
by Thomas.

And she's not in a good way.

(Sallie) The extent
of the attack involved

a very significant feature, which
was that he tried to strangle her.

He also broke her ribs.

(Kelaina) Mum was sat
on the couch crying,

and her face were all swollen,
all red, and she was all shaking.

She was just in shock.

(Kiera-Lee) Mum was covered in
scratches, bruises, a bust lip,

and she basically said
that he tried to strangle her

and pin her to the bed.

She did use the words,
"I think he tried to kill me."

I was so angry.

And I remember standing
at my mum's window,

and the police have
surrounded Thomas.

He was stood in front
of the house.

I stood in the window,
waving and smiling at him

whilst the handcuffs
were getting put on him.

She was just sat kind of
rocking on the edge of the settee.

She couldn't breathe properly
because she got broken ribs.

And she kept saying,
"He's going to kill me.

He's going to kill me now."

(David) Thomas Nutt is arrested
and remanded in custody,

meaning he would be detained
while he awaited his trial.

Finally, it's a chance
for Dawn and her daughters

to plan a life free from Nutt.

(Kelaina) When he was in prison,
it actually felt like

I was getting my own mum back,
like she was herself again.

She was, like,
spending more time with me

and spending more time with Kiera.

And I did tell her that, you know,
you're not getting back with him,

just he's in prison now.

You can forget about him.

(David) But the nightmare
wasn't over.

From prison, Thomas Nutt
launches his counterattack,

a series of letters to Dawn.

Investigators are all
too familiar with the way

violent partners manipulate
their victims from behind bars.

Was this Nutt's plan
to retain control?

(Ginny) He told her word for word
what to say to the solicitor

and what to say to the police
to retract the statements.

I remember Mum texting me saying,
I cannot cope on my own.

I love him, Kiera. I'm so sorry.

(David) We mustn't imagine
that simply because the abuser

goes to prison that somehow
the coercive control

would necessarily stop.

Nutt maintains a constant presence
in Dawn's life

through letter writing and no doubt
also through phone calling.

And what he also does
in these letters

is present himself as the victim.

And therefore, he's playing on
this learned helplessness

that's been embedded
within their relationship.

So it doesn't matter
that he's gone to jail.

He constantly retains a presence
in Dawn's life.

But all of Nutt's manipulation
would now culminate

on the day of his trial.

(Emma) So in this particular case,
Dawn actually attended court,

got to the door of court, but felt
that she wasn't in a position

to give evidence against Nutt.

And as a result of that,
the Crown had to drop the case

and he was released from custody.

It's something which happens
quite a lot

in domestic violence cases,
unfortunately.

We are in a position
to bring charges.

But by the time
the case comes to court,

the complainant,
usually the female involved,

has had time to consider
what's going to happen

if she gives evidence
against her violent partner.

And quite often, as was
in the case previously with Dawn,

they feel that they can't
go through and give evidence,

and as a result, cases sometimes
need to be discontinued.

And he came out of prison
and moved back in.

(David) In the spring of 2021,
Kiera-Lee has a baby.

Now a grandmother, Dawn tries
to persuade her daughter

and grandchild to move back in
with her and Nutt.

She was like, he's changed.
Just come here.

So me, trusting my mum, I came to
my mum's house a few days before.

It was like Thomas
was a changed man.

Different.

It was like... it wasn't even...

I would say something
to him that could have

triggered him a few months before,
and he'd bluff with me.

(Kelaina) He seemed a lot
more happier and himself.

Mum and Thomas together
seemed a lot happier.

(David) There did seem
to be a period of time

when Nutt had kind of
turned over a new leaf.

People were beginning
to think he'd changed.

But for me, all that suggests
is that misogyny,

that hatred, that contempt,
that intense dislike for women

can be masked very successfully if
you know the right things to say,

if you know the right ways
to behave.

The misogyny hadn't disappeared.

It was simply in abeyance.

It was simply on pause.

A few months later,
there was an announcement,

one that nobody was expecting.

(ominous music)

I was just like,
why are you getting married?

I thought it was a very stupid idea,
and I told them both that.

(Kelaina) I didn't know they were
getting married until the week

before when mum asked me
to be a bridesmaid.

I was in shock,
but at the same time,

I was happy for Mum
and for Thomas.

(David)
As the wedding day approaches,

Dawn's family notice
that she doesn't seem herself.

(Kiera-Lee)
Finding a wedding dress,

she was like, yeah, it's nice,
but don't really want that one.

Don't want that one.

Starting out, the rest for
the bridesmaids, she was...

it was like a chore.

She didn't seem excited for it.

She kind of seemed like
it was a rushed thing.

I don't think that's
really, truly what she wanted.

I don't think so.

(tense music)

She wasn't really happy
on the wedding day.

She would just, like, you know,
getting ready slowly.

She were just shaking
all the time.

I thought it were a bit strange,

but I just thought
it was just nerves.

(Kiera-Lee)
She didn't have makeup on.

She didn't have a dress on.

She didn't even have a dress
hung up in the bedroom

and was getting picked up
in 40 minutes.

And then she was just slumped
on the bed, on her phone,

and her voice even
sounded like drones.

You know, uh, like, yeah,
really long and...

she just looked sad.

And I asked her what's wrong,
and she said,

"I think something bad
will happen."

(David) She's shown to everybody
who watches her

that she's not excited
by what's happening.

This isn't the happiest day
of her life.

She recognises this is
a kind of legal

and social entrapment because
of the marriage ceremony itself.

It's terribly tragic in itself
to think that that is happening,

and the fact that Dawn
is so visibly distressed,

that people can see this distress

was also perhaps
a last cry for help.

(Kiera-Lee) So we went
to the register office,

and there was Thomas's mum
and stepdad and basically

all of Thomas's friends.

(David) By contrast, Dawn's only
guests are her two daughters.

(Ginny) One of my granddaughters
rang me up and said,

Nana, has Auntie Dawn got married?

And I went, what?

She said, somebody just put
something on social media,

and it says, "Congratulations,
Dawn and Thomas Nutt,

"on your wedding day."

I was annoyed that
she hadn't said anything.

But then I understand why.

I think it's him.

What's probably said to our Dawn...
don't tell your mum.

(David) The fact that there were
very few friends or family

from Dawn's side
at her wedding to Nutt

is a kind of physical explanation,
a physical expression

of the control that Nutt, by that
stage, had exercised over her.

He was able to isolate her
from a support network.

And of course, Dawn must
have felt even more trapped

as she went into that service,

knowing that there was
nobody there, really,

that would be able to help her.

(sombre music)

(Ginny)
It's heartbreaking.

I didn't want to be there
at the wedding, not to him, no.

(David) At the reception,
her daughters feel

that Dawn still
doesn't seem to be herself.

She didn't really speak to anyone.

She didn't really say much.

(Kiera-Lee)
Thomas had to hold her hand still

to keep the wedding ring on,
because she was shaking that much

that she couldn't give him
her hand.

She was sat on the table
with me and my sister.

And we was talking together,
but she wasn't as happy

as what a bride should have been.

It was about between, like,
7:30, 7:00 on the wedding night,

and I got a taxi home.

And the last thing I said
to my mum was, like, goodbye,

and I love you,
and I gave her a kiss.

(David) Later that night,
the newlyweds

are captured on CCTV
returning home,

where they're due to spend
a few days

before going on their honeymoon
to the seaside town of Skegness.

But at the last minute,
the plan changes.

I got a message in
the early morning of the Friday

saying, "We've gone away
for a few days.

"I've lost my phone."

Basically, we'll be back
for Halloween.

(David) For three days,
Dawn's family hears nothing.

Then Kiera-Lee receives a text.

(Kiera-Lee)
"Hi. It's your mum."

Basically, can you meet me
at Wilko's at 10:30?

So I've agreed to it.

Got to 10:30. She didn't turn up.

So I've called Thomas.

He's then come down,
and we went around Brighouse

looking for my mum
because he told me

it was 9:30 when
she set off walking.

It's not her usual self.

My mum wouldn't just
casually go missing.

She wouldn't go for hours without
telling people where she was.

At that time, he was saying,
we've had an argument.

She didn't want to come back.

I think she's doing this
because it's Halloween

and she's playing a trick on you.

He then said to me,
I even cleaned the house,

Kiera, to make sure your mum's
in a good mood

for when she gets home.

I said, you cleaning
when you don't even

know how to wash
a plate up properly,

went and you cleaned
the whole house?

He went, yeah.
I went, all right.

And I just thought
that was really strange.

(tense music)

(Kelaina)
We all went round Brighouse

with a picture of Mum and asked if
anyone seen her, but no one did.

My sister and Thomas went to
hospital, seeing if she's there.

I was in panic mode.

I was, like, stressing out,
didn't know what to do.

My gut instinct was saying that
something terrible has happened.

(Kiera-Lee) He took me back
to my mum's house,

made my son some lunch.

I was like, you need
to call the police.

He said, no, wait 48 hours.

So we pressured him
until the next-door neighbour

basically forced him
to file a missing persons report.

And it was like
a whole shift of mood.

He rushed me to feed my son.

He said, you need to get home now.

They're going to
search this house.

It got to 5:00, and I were...
I was scared.

But I had this kind of
feeling in my stomach

when Thomas stopped answering me
that something bad's happened.

(Ginny) Kiera's text me saying,
"Mum's gone missing."

And I went, "He hadn't strangled
and done her in?" I say.

Those were my exact words.

I knew, in the bottom
of my stomach,

I knew there was
something not right.

(ominous music)

(Kelaina) I think it was
around 11:30, 12:00 at night

when we got the confirmation,
when the police came,

and they confirmed that
a body had been found

and they're suspecting
it was Dawn.

I just didn't believe
that Mum was dead.

(sombre music)

Now I screamed.

I just dropped to the floor.
I couldn't move.

They just said that a body
had been recovered in a field,

in a case.

(David) Investigators begin
collecting evidence

from a bloody scene.

(Sallie)
The attack on Dawn was savage.

The force of the strangulation
was sufficient to fracture

the hyoid cartilage in the neck.

There were also a series
of blows to her head,

and we know that her body
was unceremoniously dumped

in a suitcase and then
taken to a location and dumped.

(Ginny)
That's just tipped it over edge.

I thought, how could anybody stoop
so low to do things like that?

She was only little.

(Kelaina) I don't believe it
until I see it,

so I chose to ID my mother's body.

I was just hoping and praying
that it wasn't Mum

and that they've got the
wrong body and that

they've ID'd her incorrectly.

But when I saw her laying there,
it was, like, shockness.

But when you actually
see the injuries

and you see other injuries,
it's like...

just hits you like, wow,
like, the force

and things like that
of how she died.

She had a black eye and a broken
nose, and her jaw was bruised,

and she had a bruise
on the side of her face.

Her whole face
was bruised and swollen.

(Ginny)
Of course, I knew it were him.

I knew what he'd done.

And I knew, in my heart of
hearts... and we all did...

that he'd done it
on the wedding night.

We just knew.

(Emma) He goes to a neighbour
and tells them that he's killed Dawn

and that he needs
to hand himself in,

and he presents himself
at the police station and says

that he has killed his wife.

(David) Thomas Nutt
tells the police

that he killed Dawn when
they returned from their honeymoon,

but he claims
it was all an accident.

Nutt admitted manslaughter,
that he had killed Dawn,

but he had only intended
to inflict some harm on her,

not significant harm.

He gave an account
that the killing had arisen

because he had attempted
to restrain Dawn

in the course of a physical
argument between them.

(Kiera-Lee)
Thomas made it out that

it was self-defence
and an accident.

(David) But Nutt's account of
what happened constantly changes.

(Kelaina)
His first reason was that

they were arguing in Skegness
all the time.

They'd come home, and she was
screaming and shouting,

and he tried to restrain her.

Another reason was,
he went out for a grocery shop,

and when he came back, she had a
knife, and she tried to stab him.

Another reason was because
she was a jealous wife

and that he apparently
was cheating,

and she was accusing him
of cheating.

So he restrained her,
and she died.

(suspenseful music)

What the police were
able to ascertain,

through CCTV and automatic number
plate recognition investigations,

was that he travelled to Skegness.

He was actually captured
on CCTV footage

at a toll station, in which
it was clear that Dawn wasn't

in the front seat of the car.

He stayed in Skegness
for a number of days.

He can be seen on CCTV footage
going to shops.

Dawn is not seen at all.

The last sighting of Dawn
was on the CCTV

on the night of the wedding.

(David) A search of the home
Dawn shared with Thomas Nutt

uncovers a chilling discovery.

CCTV taken four days
after Dawn went missing

shows Nutt dragging a large
suitcase out of the house.

(suspenseful music)

(Emma) What we see
from CCTV footage

is him dragging the suitcase
through the back garden,

around the corner.

He's clearly needing
to put some effort in.

(Kelaina) He's then seen throwing
the suitcase over the fence

and landing in someone's garden.

And then he wheels the suitcase
through someone's garden,

over this grassy area,
through a snicket,

and then dumping the suitcase
in a bushy area.

In the suitcase was Mum's body.

(David) Thomas Nutt's story
of self-defence

is dismissed by the police,

and he's charged
with Dawn Walker's murder.

It will be up to a jury now
to decide the truth.

(ominous music)

The Crown's case is that,
after Nutt had killed Dawn,

he put her in a cupboard,

an ex-coal shed at the side
of the house.

And that's where
he left her when he

went to Skegness on the honeymoon.

When he did put her
in the suitcase,

he caused fractured ribs,
and he also fractured her leg,

such was the force that he used
in getting her into that suitcase

to dispose of the body.

(dramatic music)

(David) The evidence
is overwhelming

that Nutt disposed of Dawn's body.

But the key question
for the jury is,

will the footage convince them
that he intended to kill her?

Her family fears that Nutt might
still avoid conviction for murder.

The challenges for the prosecution

appear to be that there were
no witnesses to the event.

Nobody heard it. Nobody saw it.

(tense music)

In the 11-day trial,
he had the wedding ring still on,

and he were playing with his
wedding ring and looking sad,

looking down at it,
pretending to be sad.

But during the whole time,
there was no empathy,

no remorse, no nothing.

He were just sat there,
not bothered.

He had his legs crossed.

He had his arms crossed,
slouching.

He was smirking
at some of the points.

Then when people
come up as a witness,

he was, like,
trying to intimidate them

by staring at them,
leaning forward.

Just horrible.

(David) Thomas Nutt
does not express remorse.

And at court, the smirking,
the playing with the ring

are merely forms of manipulation.

There's no genuine emotion here.

This is simply a misogynist who
at last is going to have to

face the music for what he's done.

During the trial, Nutt's former
partner gives powerful evidence.

(Sallie) She wrote a particularly
impactful statement in which

she said that one woman had
come out of the relationship

with Nutt alive and one hadn't
and that she was the lucky one.

It was made clear to the jury that

this was a man who did have
a significant history

of domestic violence,
and he was not able to hide that.

(David) Having heard
all of the evidence,

the jury retires
to consider its verdict.

(Kelaina) The waiting was nervous.

(Kiera-Lee) And the jury man
stood up and said, guilty.

We all stood up, and we cheered.

Not because... you know,
it wasn't a happy cheers,

but that man has been
found guilty,

and he is responsible
for my mum's murder.

And he stood up, and he
just told us all to... eff you.

And it just kind of shows
how evil he actually is.

There's no sense of remorse
or no word of a sorry

or admitting to what he's done,

and he'll never do it
because he's a coward.

(David)
Nutt is given a life sentence

and is ordered to serve
a minimum of 21 years in prison.

(Sallie) The judge made clear
that his view

was that Dawn had been killed
on the very night

she had married Nutt.

Then Nutt's account, which was
unsupported by other evidence,

that he and Dawn had gone together
on a honeymoon to Skegness

was revealed
as being a complete deceit.

(Veronica) She's come back
from her wedding.

It's supposed to be this positive
day, and then things quickly turn,

and it reinforces all of the
worries that she would have had.

You could really see that,
in that moment,

her worst fears
are probably realised.

And this man that she's been
protecting and trying to believe

the best of
really is as bad and as dangerous

as everyone has been saying.

(Sallie) He also took
the deliberate decision

to put her body into a suitcase
and then to dump it

in an attempt to evade
responsibility for his actions.

(Ginny) What kind of an
animal would do something

like that to a human being?

It just doesn't
bear thinking about.

The way I see it,
you already beat her...

you beat my mum to death and then
for you to carry on beating her

after she's died,
breaking her bones,

and doing it
in the most undignified way.

It shows what kind of person
he is.

(sombre music)

(David) Sadly, what this case
seems to suggest is that,

unless you can get the law
or extended family and friends

to intervene
on behalf of the victim,

then the best indication of
future behaviour is past behaviour.

And Thomas Nutt's past behaviour
was on a trajectory

that was only ever going to go
in one direction,

and that direction
was to use lethal violence.

And sadly, Dawn was the victim
of that lethal violence.

(Emma) I think the thing
which was most difficult

from my point of view
is the manipulation of Kiera,

because for a number of hours,

made her think
that there was a chance

that her mother would be found,
whilst he knew full well

that she was already dead.

The afternoon of Halloween,
when I went to my mum's house...

my mum was
in the kitchen cupboard,

and I didn't know.

We wasn't even 2 metres apart.

It just shows what an animal,
what a brute he is.

There isn't a day gone by
when I haven't cried.

But, you know, I know
all the tears in the world

aren't going to bring
my daughter back.

But she was my daughter,
and I know I loved her so much.

(Kiera-Lee) I feel more guilt
towards me not helping my mum out

and anger towards Thomas
taking the opportunity

of my mum loving my son.

Pointing... he still points to
photos today and says "Nana"

and kisses her.

And it hurts,
knowing that she didn't

get to see his first birthday.

(sombre music)

(Ginny)
It's difficult.

You know, it's just absolutely
ruined this family.

It really has.

I feel like I've had
my heart ripped out.

I do.

And I hope and I pray
that another family

doesn't have to go through
what we've gone through.

Please, if you are in that
relationship, get out of it now.

Get out of it now while you can,

because you'll end up
like my daughter.

(dramatic music)

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