A 'bully' murdered his new bride on their wedding night and forced her corpse into a suitcase.
Thomas Nutt, 46, punched and strangled Dawn Walker and hid her in a cupboard at their home before later dumping her in a field. Bradford Crown Court heard how Nutt broke Dawn's leg in order to fit the body into a suitcase.
He later tossed the suitcase over a fence before hiding it in some bushes. Her remains were discovered four days after the pair got married.
In order to explain Dawn's sudden disappearance to her family, Nutt claimed it was due to her mental health and falsified texts as evidence. He also convinced Dawn's youngest daughter to aid him in trying to find her, all while knowing she was actually dead.
Her sister later told the court that Nutt had controlled his 52-year-old victim for years and isolated her from her own family. Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Rose told him: “Dawn Walker died because you are a bully, used to getting your own way with women, used to controlling and manipulating women and used to using your considerable size advantage to inflict violence on women if you considered it necessary to do so.”
It was only a few hours after their wedding that Nutt killed the mother-of-three at their home in Shirley Grove, Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire on the night of October 27. He told police they had gone on their honeymoon to Skegness the next day.
However, the judge said there was no evidence to support this claim and argued that Ms Walker was already dead. Judge Rose added that the killed "desecrated" Dawn's body by breaking her bones so she could fit in the suitcase.
Kiera-Lee Guest, the victim's daughter, reported that Nutt had put up Halloween decorations in the house while Ms Walker was lying dead. Ms Guest added that Nutt knew what he had done when she went from place to place with a photo of her mother, asking people if they had seen her.
She said: “Justice will be served for my beautiful mother.” Dawn's sister Lisa said Nutt manipulated his victim and isolated her from members of her family for three years "before his ungodly hands took her away from us forever".
Lisa Walker told the court: “I mourn for my sister who suffered so much and felt like she had nobody to turn to because this man made her feel worthless.”
Alistair McDonald QC, prosecuting, noted that the crime was made worse by the way Nutt attempted to deceive the victim's family after the murder, causing them "psychological damage". Stephen Wood, QC, defending, said there was no evidence that Nutt intended to kill his wife and that the incident had been "spontaneous".
Nutt admitted manslaughter but was convicted on murder charges. After the judge imposed a life sentence with a 21-year minimum term, a woman in the public gallery called out: “Thank you Your Honour, thank you.”
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