Becky Watts murder trial: Accused girlfriend Shauna Hoare tells of violence at hands of killer Nathan Matthews

Hoare claimed Matthews strangled her during an argument, pushed her against a door and would shout and scream at her

Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare (back row) are accused of kidnapping Becky before her killing (PA)

The woman accused with her boyfriend Nathan Matthews of murdering Bristol teenager Becky Watts has told a court of suffering “terrifying” violence at his hands.

Shauna Hoare, 21, claimed 28-year-old Matthews strangled her during an argument and also pulled her hair, pushed her against a door and would shout and scream at her.

Hoare - who is accused alongside her boyfriend of a sexually motivated kidnap plot to murder 16-year-old Becky - described to the jury incidents during their six-year relationship.

“We were arguing over something. I sat on the end of the bed and he just lost it and grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to the other side of the bed,” Hoare told Bristol Crown Court.


 Nathan Matthews, 28, and Shauna Hoare, 21, are accused of killing the 16-year-old on 19 February.

“I said I had stomach pains and ran to the bathroom and he followed me. (He was) very, very sorry.”

Hoare also described an earlier argument with Matthews in which she told him to leave and he started stabbing himself with a fork.

“Again we were having a big argument and shouting and I'd had enough and told him to leave,” she said.

“He was eating something and had a fork in his hand and he jumped on me - not hurting me - and started stabbing himself in the chest and was scrapping the fork down his face.”

Asked by Andrew Langdon QC, defending, her reaction to that, Hoare replied: “Terrifying.”

Describing an incident when he strangled her, Hoare said: “During another row he almost ran at me and put his hands round my neck and strangled me.”

Asked how she felt, Hoare replied: “Horrible, I couldn't breathe, I felt panic, I was scared.


 Matthews, of Hazelbury Drive, Warmley, South Gloucestershire, denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap
 (Avon and Somerset Police)

”He always apologised but not always right away... It would take a while. He would explain that it was the way I was annoying him.

“We didn't go out for a day or two until the red mark around my neck was gone.”

Hoare also told the court that she knew if Matthews was going to get violent because the tone of his voice changed.

“He had a tone of voice, you kind of get to know it from the violence,” she said.

“He would be shouting, clench his fists and would step forward and throw something at you but he wouldn't actually hit me.

”(I felt) scared because I didn't know what he was going to do. I've seen him argue with other people but not in the way that I have described.“

Matthews, of Hazelbury Drive, Warmley, South Gloucestershire, denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap.

He admits killing Becky, perverting the course of justice, preventing the burial of a corpse and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Hoare, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, denies murder, conspiracy to kidnap, perverting the course of justice, preventing burial of a corpse and possessing a prohibited weapon.

The residents of the Barton Court property, Karl Demetrius, 30, and his partner Jaydene Parsons, 23, admit assisting an offender.

Donovan Demetrius - Karl's twin brother - of Marsh Lane, Bristol, and James Ireland, 23, of Richmond Villas, Avonmouth - a work colleague of Karl's - deny the charge.

PA