Man jailed for murdering lodger and cutting up body

Benjamin Atkins killed his lodger following a dispute over money and drugs

A man has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years for murdering his lodger and scattering his severed body parts in packages and a suitcase.

Benjamin Atkins, 49, killed Simon Shotton, of the same age, at their home in Bournemouth in August 2023, following a dispute over money and drugs, Winchester Crown Court heard.

Atkins' partner, Debbie Pereira, 39, was jailed for four years for perverting the course of justice and preventing the burial of a corpse.

The judge, Mrs Justice Stacey, said Atkins' actions were "gruesome" and "shockingly callous".

Warning: This story contains graphic details that readers may find upsetting

Simon Shotton's remains were scattered around Bournemouth

Mr Shotton's legs were disposed of on the Manor Steps Zig Zag footpath at Boscombe seafront in August 2023.

The trial was told how a member of the public was sheltering under a tree when a package containing the human remains landed beside her.

In September, the victim's arms were found in the couple's garden in Aylesbury Road, and his torso was discovered in a suitcase at Boscombe Chine Gardens.

Police said skull fragments were also found in Walpole Lane in February 2024.

Debbie Pereira's arrest was captured on a police body-worn camera

The judge said Mr Shotton died two weeks after being allowed to stay in a tent in the couple's garden, paying daily rent in drugs instead of cash.

She said a fight broke out between the two men after Atkins stole money from Mr Shotton's wallet and used it to buy drugs.

She said she assumed Atkins killed the lodger in an act of "excessive self-defence", repeatedly stabbing him and using a loudspeaker to stove in his head.

The judge added: "The violence you used was ferocious, unnecessary, wholly out of proportion.

"You were by far the stronger. He was not a threat to you."

The pair were caught on CCTV walking with a hacksaw in Atkins' hand

The couple then sold Mr Shotton's phone and shoplifted a hacksaw together, the court heard.

Atkins cut up the body and started a fire in the garden, lasting for several days, in an attempt to dispose of Mr Shotton's head.

Pereira spent several days cleaning her blood-spattered utility room before Atkins repainted the walls, the judge said.

Neither defendant had shown genuine remorse, she continued.

The judge said the case was one of the largest in the history of Dorset Police

Atkins was recorded in a police van telling his girlfriend he would kill again, the court heard.

The defendant said: "I'll look 'em straight in the eye and say: 'Yeah. I'd do it again and again and again. If you let me go today, I'd find another one and do it again.'

"'Drug dealers and pushers. Kill, decapitate and eat the [expletive term]."

In a victim personal statement read by a barrister, Mr Shotton's son Wesley said his father "used drink and drugs to escape the battles in his mind".

Wesley Shotton wrote: "I just loved our time together. I was every bit my daddy's boy."

Addressing Atkins, he added: "The lengths you've gone to in destroying my dad is completely different.

"There was no opportunity for us to visit his body to tell him we loved him, to kiss him goodbye."

The judge said the case was "one of the largest and most complex in the history of Dorset Police", with hundreds of officers from different forces involved in the search for body parts.