A postman who decapitated his girlfriend after complaining she was working too much has been jailed for life.
Ewan Methven, 27, admitted murdering Phoenix Spencer-Horn at their home on Nov 16 last year, after the couple ordered a takeaway to their flat in Glen Lee, East Kilbride.
Prosecutors told the High Court in Glasgow that Methven choked her before severing her head and trying to remove her limbs from her body.
Earlier that day, Methven had complained to his girlfriend that her waitress shifts made him “lonely”.
After murdering and decapitating his 21-year-old girlfriend, he texted her mother pretending to be her and he trawled the internet for pornography for hours.
Methven later dialled 999, insisting he had a drug-induced blackout and could not remember what he had done.
But Judge Lord Matthews at the High Court in Glasgow ordered Methven to spend at least 23 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
He told Methven: “You pleaded guilty to a dreadful crime, namely the murder of Phoenix Spencer-Horn, who was a much-loved and sorely missed daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend.
“At age 21 and 134 days, she was standing at the threshold of what should have been a long, fulfilling life. You were a trusted member of her family, and you betrayed that trust and robbed her of a life in the cruellest way.
“Not content with what you did to her, you robbed her of all dignity in death by decapitating her and tried to dismember her in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
“The way you treated her after her death meant that her family didn’t have the comfort of saying goodbye to her. No punishment I can inflict or what I can say or do can be enough and the only sentence that I can impose is life.
“I saw a letter written by you which answers none of the questions. You blame substances, but that is not an excuse.”
The couple met at a family party and had been dating for two years before the killing. They had recently moved into the top floor, one-bedroom flat.
‘Good spirits’
Methven was employed by the Royal Mail while Ms Spencer-Horn, who was known as Phe, held part-time jobs at the Strathaven Hotel and a local coffee shop.
She had been working on Nov 16 and was described as in “good spirits”.
Methven had texted her during her shift complaining of feeling “lonely” due to her working hours. Ms Spencer-Horn apologised to her boyfriend.
The postman had also been working that morning and told a colleague he was going home to “chill”.
Methven ordered a takeaway that night and the couple ate when Ms Spencer-Horn returned.
She contacted her mother at 9.37pm, stating she was at home having dinner. The court heard this was the last communication they had.
At about midnight, a downstairs neighbour heard a “loud noise and hurried footsteps”. This coincided with increased activity recorded on a phone app measuring Methven’s steps.
He had attacked Ms Spencer-Horn with three knives, stabbing her 20 times. The fatal stab wound was to the chest. There were others in that area, as well as to the face and buttocks.
The court heard that he had attempted to “sever her torso, right wrist and ankle from her body”.
Methven tried to cover up the killing for two days and spent the weekend driving Ms Spencer-Horn’s red Vauxhall Corsa.
Prosecutors said he scrolled through her phone and searched 170 times for internet pornography and made several attempts to buy cocaine.
He also repeatedly pretended in texts to his victim’s mother, Alison Spencer, that her daughter was “alive and well”.
Ms Spencer had tried to contact her daughter on the morning of Nov 17, and Methven replied, saying “Phe is not up yet” and that he would get her to message when she was.
He later pretended to be his girlfriend and sent a text to her mother, saying: “Hey, sorry I’ve just woken up xxx.” Another claimed Ms Spencer-Horn was apparently “all good”.
The court heard that minutes after this, Methven logged on to adult websites and accessed pornography over a period of more than 10 hours.
‘Psychotic break’
Concerns were raised when Ms Spencer-Horn did not turn up for work on Nov 18.
Methen dialled 999 that afternoon, stating he had had “a drug-induced psychotic break” and that he had “killed” his girlfriend. He said he had “blacked out through the full thing”.
He told the operator: “The past day I have been trying to kind of muster up the courage to phone.”
Methven said his girlfriend’s body was in the hall with a knife beside her. He said he had been taking steroids and cocaine, which he believed had been spiked.
Police found her “mutilated body” with two blood-stained knives next to her. A third blood-stained knife was found discarded in the bedroom.
Methven was described as “calm”, telling the officers: “I could not stay here with her like that. I tried to dismember her. I moved her from the bath and put her there.”
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice including the mutilation of Ms Spencer-Horn’s body and lying to her mother.
Tony Graham KC, defending, told the court Methven was “unable to offer an explanation to why the course of events led to her death other than his admission of drugs”.
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