2023 murder and subsequent dismemberment of a man in Bournemouth, England
The Bournemouth body parts murder was a murder of 49-year-old local man, Simon Shotton, who was killed by 49-year-old Benjamin Atkins on 18 August 2023. Later, Atkins cut up Shotton's body and placed various parts around the Boscombe suburb of the Bournemouth area in Dorset, England.
Shotton had been living with Atkins and his partner, 39-year-old Debbie Pereira at Pereira's address, on an arrangement that he supplied them with crack cocaine and heroin. It was believed that the murder had been carried out due to Atkins not being happy with the amount of drugs that Shotton had or was providing to the couple in exchange for a place to stay.
Shotton's body was dismembered in the couples flat using a hacksaw stolen from a local shop. Body parts were put into bin bags, a suitcase or deposited without any covering in various places across Boscombe and discovered by a member of the public and police on 26 August, before further discoveries were made by police on 2 September 6 September 2023 and 28 February 2024.
At court, Atkins and Pereira both denied murder. Atkins admitted perverting the course of justice and preventing the burial of a corpse, with Pereira also admitting preventing the burial of a corpse later during the trial, but denied perverting the course of justice.
On 22 May 2024, Atkins was found guilty of Shotton's murder, and Pereira was found not guilty. Pereira was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. The pair are to be sentenced later in 2024.
Background.
Simon Shotton.
Shotton was a 49-year-old man, who at the time of his death, had been living in the Boscombe suburb of Bournemouth. Prior to moving to Bournemouth, Shotton lived in Ipswich, Suffolk. It was reported that Shotton used the name 'Rio'.
In April 2020, Suffolk Constabulary attended his address in Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, locating 188 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine. Sutton explained to police that his address had been taken over by county lines dealers and in return for selling drugs with a youth they placed in the house, was given two wraps of drugs each night. Shotton was found guilty of possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, as well as possession of heroin and crack cocaine. He was given a two-year prison sentenced that was suspended for two years.
On 1 February 2022, at Ipswich Crown Court, Shotton was sentenced to 3-years-and-1-month imprisonment for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, namely heroin and crack cocaine, as well as possessing a bladed article in a public place, namely a knife.
In September 2022, Shotton was released on license, however, he had received threats about returning to Ipswich; Shotton allegedly had drug debts of £10,000. Not wanting to return to Ipswich, he decided to move to Bournemouth.
Moving to Bournemouth, Shotton was under the supervision of the Probation Service. He was subject to monthly probation meetings, arranged via text messages to a mobile phone of which the probation service provided Shotton with a SIM card for.
Having moved to Bournemouth, Shotton stayed at the derelict remains of the Mon Bijou Hotel on Manor Road, which had been boarded up for approximately 10 years. According to a probation officer, the building was in the process of being renovated and was 'very run down'. Shotton lived in a small room, with make shift curtains and a bed. Shotton didn't pay rent to live at the address and told his probation officer that there was an informal agreement of him being employed to stay at the address to deter squatters, of which there had been a problem throughout the time the property was empty. However, it had been suggested that Shotton was more of a squatter himself, who the owners tolerated being there.
Shotton's probation officer stated that she was worried about Shotton's use of heroin and crack cocaine, describing how Shotton was 'fairly open' about using cannabis. Unbeknown to the probation officer, there was evidence of crack cocaine having been smoked at the address that Shotton was staying at, as well as him sending texts advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. Shotton was in fact a dealer for a main crack and heroin dealer in London called 'Roco'.
Approximately a month before August 2023 (either June or July), Shotton was asked to move on from the property, having previously been asked to leave several times and having had a disagreement with the owner of the building.
At approximately the end of July, a fellow drug user had met with Shotton for the last time, describing how he looked 'tired'. Asking Shotton if he was alright, Shotton told him that the 'dealers' he was working for were 'working him too hard'.
Benjamin Atkins and Debbie Pereira.
Atkins.
Atkins was born in Oxford, where he lived with his mother, half brother and step father. Atkins' step father was abusive, with Atkins later stating how his step father 'shamed' him a number of times, as well as putting 'his hands on me'.
Atkins had attended The Cherwell School in Oxford, Oxfordshire. Aged 15, Atkins left school with no qualifications. He explained: ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ;, noting that he couldn't focus due to the problems he had at home.
As he grew older, Atkins took a job abroad working for a removal firm, which involved travelling from the UK to Switzerland.
Atkins went through the 'party scene', taking a lot of LSD and ecstasy, before taking 'harder drugs' of heroin and cocaine, which he became addicted to.
In the late 1990s, Atkins moved in with his grandma. When she died, in approximately 2000, Atkins went into drug treatment in Weston Super Mare. For a few years after this, Atkins didn't use drugs, instead, starting an apprenticeship. From here, he got into a relationship, where he had his first of three children.
Atkins' child was born premature and he noted a lot of pressure on his relationship. In 2005, he relapsed, before being clean from drugs in 2008, having attended a residential treatment centre in Bournemouth.
Atkins got into a new relationship at this time, however, the woman broke his heart and Atkins later started to take drugs again, resulting in him losing his family, with one of his children returning to live with their mother. In 2018, Atkins got clean again.
In 2021, Atkins had a stroke, with it taking approximately 6 moths for him to physically recover.
According to Pereira, Atkins was a paranoid schizophrenic and also had depression and had attempted to get help through the substance and mental health charity, We Are With You.
Pereira.
Pereira was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, before being adopted into a family. She described her adopted father as an 'abusive alcoholic'. She stated that he would get his friends to go to her bedroom, noting how she was sexually and physically abused.
By the age of 12, Pereira had started drinking alcohol and snuck out her house to local clubs. On one occasion, she attended a nightclub and was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned for three days, being raped by two men she had met in the club. She stated that her mother had attended a hospital to identify a body that was believed to be hers.
At the age of 14, Pereira moved to the United Kingdom, living in Poole.
At the age of 29, Pereira got with a man who introduced her to heroin. From here, she started to commit crime to fund her drug habit. Pereira had what she described as a 'horrifically abusive' long relationship with a previous partner (it is unknown whether this is the same man who introduced her to heroin).
At some stage, Pereira had two children. One of her twin's she had was stillborn and at the time of her arrest, she had been getting over an anniversary of this.
Pereira was a long term drug user, described as wearing the 'mental scares of her life journey'. Having left a drug rehabilitation programme in 2018, Pereira was sober for 18 months, allowing her to have her children returned to her. However, getting into an abusive relationship, Pereira relapsed, before she moved into a dry house.
On leaving the dry house, Pereira moved into 18B Aylesbury Road in September 2021, returning to sobriety. At this time, she was single and also got to see her children. A neighbour described her as seeming ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ; and to be in a ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ; in the first few months after meeting her in approximately 2021/2022. Pereira started drinking when Atkins first moved into her address, but initially was not taking drugs. However, a few months after Atkins moving in, whilst he relapsed on alcohol first, she relapsed on drugs first.
Having relapsed, Pereira stated that she was smoking heroin on a pipe, having previously used this intravenously. She added that she got her drugs from the "many dealers in Boscombe".
At the time of her arrest on suspicion of Shotton's murder, Pereira was a methadone user, having had OCD and agoraphobia, causing her not to go out and get panic attacks. She was seeking help with doctors and We Are With You regarding her agoraphobia.
Relationship.
Pereira and Atkins met during a drug rehabilitation programme in July 2018 but weren't romantically involved until approximately April/May 2022. This followed Atkins commenting on some of Pereira's posts on Facebook, with the pair arranging to see one another. Having started a relationship, Atkins moved into Pereira's address a few months after.
At the time of Shotton's death, and Atkins and Pereira had been in a relationship for 18 months. In August 2023, the couple were living together at Pereira's address of 18B Aylesbury Road in Boscombe, where they had been for over a year. A neighbour described them as ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ;. Another neighbour, who had known Pereira since she first moved into the address, stated that after Atkins appeared in Pereira's life, he noticed her appearance being 'slightly gaunt' and 'got thinner and appeared more pale'. It was noticed that she was 'less outwardly friendly'. It was also noticed that visits from Pereira's family to her address 'tailed off'. Atkins told the neighbour that the changes in Pereira's appearance were due to an eating disorder, with the neighbour starting to think that she was on drugs after Atkins had moved in. Another person visiting Aylesbury Road stated that he noticed ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ;
The couple were using drugs together, having both relapsed. In order to fund their habit, Atkins would shoplift or the couple would find items that people had left outside their addresses, which included electrical items that the couple took to Cash Creators to exchange for money. They also funded their habits by using money from the government.
Pereira appeared to have mixed reviews on her relationship with Atkins.
After her arrest, Pereira described her relationship to police with Atkins as having a good connection, where they communicated and didn't argue or fight and later told police: ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ;. She stated that when they both met, Atkins wasn't over his ex-partner and having to hear a lot about Atkins' ex-partner, she didn't cope well, so started using drugs again. Whilst the couple had ongoing financial issues, Pereira stated that it was 'minor' and retorted: ;templatestyles src="Quote inline/styles.css" / ; ;q class="inline-quote inline-quote-marks" ; ;/q ;. A person visiting Aylesbury Road alleged that he believed the couple had attempted to sell him what he thought was stolen produce.
However, Pereira later stated in court that her relationship with Atkins was 'draining', adding that the man she had met whilst in rehab wasn't the same person when they met again. Pereira put this down to the alcohol, which she stated turned Atkins into "something different". Despite this, she thought that she was in love with him.
Pereira stated that the reason for not ending the relationship with Atkins was because she felt "unworthy of love" and "unworthy of him".
Whilst Pereira stated that Atkins was never physically abusive to her, she stated that he used to "snarl his teeth" at her, knowing it would trigger her, as it was