‘The evil monster’, 28, who murdered his wife, 26, and chopped her into 224 pieces and then kept the remains in their flat for a week before dumping the body parts in a river in a ‘bag for life’, gets lifetime

A husband who cut his wife’s body into more than 200 pieces and then paid a friend £50 to help him dump her remains in a river has been jailed for life.

‘Evil monster’ Nicholas Metson, 28, had previously denied murdering 26-year-old Holly Bramley (later Metson) between March 17 and 25, 2023, but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on February 23. .

In March last year, a total of 224 of Ms Bramley’s body parts were recovered from the River Witham in Bassingham, 12 miles from her home in Lincoln.

Officers were first alerted to concerns for her welfare following reports of an incident on the 14th floor of Shuttleworth House in Lincoln, where she and Metson lived.

At a sentencing hearing on April 5, 2024, the court heard how Metson dismembered Holly’s body parts after killing her and placed them in plastic bags.

They also heard how the killer tried to cover up what he had done by buying large quantities of cleaning products and enlisting his school friend Joshua Hancock, 28, to help move the body parts by offering him £50 to help with a ‘ job’.

Ms Bramley’s remains were eventually found by a member of the public eight days after she was last seen, who initially thought they belonged to an animal until he saw a human hand in the river on the evening of March 25 .

Some of her remains, including parts of her heart, were never recovered, the court heard.

Today, Metson was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 19 years and 316 days.

Metson stabbed Ms Bramley at least four times in March 2023 before dismembering her and keeping her body parts for a week

Addressing the public gallery, Judge Hirst said: ‘It is remarkable how well everyone has behaved in this case, with enormous emotional distress.’

Before her remains were found and while Mrs Bramley was missing, Lincolnshire Police visited the flat they shared, with Metson telling them that his wife had left their home on March 19 with two members of a local mental health crisis team.

Officers noticed a “strong odor of bleach and ammonia” in the apartment, saw a saw on a towel, blood-stained sheets in their bathroom and a large blood stain on their bedroom floor.

After discovering that what Metson had told them about his wife’s disappearance was a lie, he was arrested and charged with her murder and perverting the course of justice.

A search on his cell phone showed that Metson had conducted Google searches including “How do I get rid of a dead body,” “What benefits can I get if my wife dies” and “Does God forgive murder.”

Holly Bramley and Nicholas Metson pictured together. Metson tried to cover up what he had done by buying large quantities of cleaning products and enlisting his school friend to help move Ms Bramley’s body parts to the River Witham.

He had also sent a message to Hancock, of Walnut Close in Waddington, in the early hours of March 25, offering him money in return for help with a ‘job’.

Hancock was arrested April 5 and charged with obstructing a coroner.

Hancock admitted obstructing a coroner, as well as unrelated offenses such as attempting to sexually communicate with a child and drug offences. In total he was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Joshua Hancock, 28, of Walnut Close in Waddington, also pleaded guilty to disposing of a corpse with intent to obstruct or prevent a coroner’s investigation.

The court heard how Metson paid Hancock, an old friend, £50 to help him dispose of Holly’s remains.

For this, Hancock was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Hancock was also convicted of a number of other crimes, including attempted sexual communication with a child and drug possession, bringing his total sentence to three years and three months.

Ms. Bramley and Metson reportedly met at Boston College in 2016 and married in 2021.