Convicted murderer was out on licence when he killed and dismembered woman - as review under way

30 January 2025, 05:29

A double murderer is due to be sentenced for killing a woman and dumping her dismembered body in a park.

Steve Sansom was out on life licence when he killed Sarah Mayhew, 38, and dumped her remains in Rowdown Fields, New Addington, south London, last spring.

The 45-year-old and his partner Gemma Watts, 49, have admitted murder and perverting the course of justice by dismembering Ms Mayhew's body, distributing the parts at "various locations" and cleaning up the scene.

On Thursday, Sansom, from Sutton, south-west London, and Watts, from New Addington, will appear at the Old Bailey to be sentenced by Mrs Justice Cutts.

The defendants were said to have known Ms Mayhew, who lived in New Addington, on the outskirts of Croydon.

Sansom is believed to use a profile name of Red Rum on Facebook, which is murder spelt backwards.

Last March 10, a post appeared on the Red Rum account saying: "Best friends are those who don't say anything when you show up at their door with a dead body. They just grab a shovel and follow you."

At a previous hearing for Watts, prosecutor Tom Little KC said the victim was murdered at Sansom's home while the defendants were present.

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Afterwards they both took part in a "significant clear-up operation and the disposal of the body of the deceased", he said.

The Metropolitan Police said they were called to the scene after a dog walker saw his animal had uncovered a human bone.

Arms, legs and a head were then found nearby and identified by DNA.

A court later heard the body of Sarah Mayhew was found “cut up in to a number of parts using power tools”.

Sansom is facing his second life sentence, having been jailed in May 1999 after admitting the murder and robbery of a minicab driver on Christmas Eve the previous year, when he ordered a cab to take him home from East Croydon.

The victim in that case, 59-year-old married father-of-two Terence Boyle, had crawled from his cab after Sansom attacked him and stole £25 to buy presents.

Sansom, then 20, laughed afterwards and told a friend: "His kids are going to have to see him in hospital over Christmas."

He was freed from prison on licence in 2019 after his case was considered by the Parole Board, and was under probation supervision when he killed for a second time.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed a serious further offence review was under way.