A man horrifically murdered his new bride just hours after they were married before stuffing her body into a suitcase and "dumping" it in a field.
Thomas Nutt severely injured Dawn Walker's face and neck before strangling her, stuffing her body in a cupboard and going on holiday alone. When he returned he placed her corpse in a suitcase and abandoned it for horrified locals to discover.
Nutt, 46, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years on Friday (August 19) after being found guilt of her murder earlier this month, the Mirror reports.
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Neighbours originally became suspicious when they noticed Dawn's absence in the town of Lightcliffe, near Halifax. Locals found her body four days later.
The trial into the horror killing heard how Nutt killed Dawn some time between October 27 - the couple's wedding day - and October 31 last year but the judge later said it took place on their wedding night itself.
Following the murder, the groom even called the police to let them know his wife had gone missing and played along in a charade for days on end before eventually turning himself in.
In sentencing, his Honour Judge Johnathan Rose told Nutt: "The impact of the sudden and violent death at a time which should have been filled with happiness will no doubt have an effect on those that knew her. The victim impact statements lay bare how this has been for them."
Judge Rose branded Nutt a "bully" and said he did not accept the killer was genuinely remorseful. He went on to explain why he believed the murder took place on the night of their wedding.
He said: "I am quite sure that is the night you killed her. She didn't answer calls from Kiera on morning of October 28. It was said she had lost her phone in the pub. There was no way of knowing whether that was true or whether you disposed of the phone.
"I am satisfied the texts sent to Kiera at 1am were sent by you. Kiera said the text was not in the language or style of her mother and of your admission you text her pretending to be Dawn on October 31".
He added: "It remains a mystery why you killed this woman who you had hours earlier took as your wife."
Dawn had previously been to the police over an assault she suffered at Nutt's hands but later tried to retract her statements, which Judge Rose told Nutt was "evidence of your control of a woman, even after you had used violence towards you and even after [your former partner] warned her, a warning she tragically chose to ignore."
During the trial, Nutt admitted to killing his wife by pleading guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. However, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty after a few hours of deliberation. The judge made a small reduction to Nutt's sentence because he pled guilty to manslaughter.
Dawn’s family cheered as the verdict was returned but Nutt muttered “f*** you” as he was taken away on August 10.
During the prosecution’s closing speeches, Alistair MacDonald QC told the court Nutt was a “seasoned practised liar” who "demonstrated a tendency to attack his female partners." The jury was shown CCTV of Nutt lugging a wheeled bag along a field before he dumped it in the undergrowth - which prosecutors said contained his wife’s body.
Speaking about this, Mr MacDonald said: “It is often said that someone’s wedding day and the immediate period after that is one of the happiest times of someone's life.
“That was not the case with Dawn Nutt... because her body was found stuffed into a suitcase and dumped into some undergrowth in a field towards the back of this defendant's house four days after she was married to him.”
Speaking on the day of his sentencing, Dawn's sister Lisa Walker said: "Not only has he taken her life, he took every single bit of dignity she deserved by treating the woman he said he loved by dumping her like rubbish. Forcing her into a suitcase and then dumping her body with what seems like no remorse."
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