Thug who strangled partner with dressing gown jailed for life
An ex-anaesthetic theatre practitioner who brutally murdered his vulnerable partner and left her body on the toilet floor with a black plastic bag over her face has been jailed for life.
Mathew Pickering beat partner Georgina Dowey before strangling her to death at his South Wales home in May last year. The 49-year-old then spent the next few hours covering up his crime, sending texts to cover his tracks and purchasing bleach to clean his home.
The former hospital theatre worker had previously admitted manslaughter but was found guilty of murder following a two-week trial and was today sentenced to a minimum of 17 and a half years, by Judge Paul Thomas KC at Swansea Crown Court. The court heard Ms Dowey was strangled and her body was left in the downstairs toilet of the home in Neath Port Talbot, with a black bin bag covering her head.
Georgina Dowey was strangled (Media Wales)During cross-examination, the defendant told the court when he saw Miss Dowey heading for the rear utility room and toilet he thought she was going to pick up an empty bottle. He says she then picked up a small piece of wood and began swinging it at him with her left hand.
Pickering said he grabbed the empty left arm of Miss Dowey's dressing gown - which was draped over the left shoulder "like a scarf" - and pulled it with both hands as hard as he could. He says in the ensuring "scuffle" his body rotated around Miss Dowey and he ended up behind her still holding onto the free sleeve but now with his hands either side of her neck.
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Asked whether he was pulling on the sleeve around Miss Dowey's neck as hard as he could, Pickering said yes, and that it was "about 10 seconds plus" before she went limp.
Ms Dowey, 47, who had described Pickering as the "love of her life" had a long history of alcohol abuse, moved in with Pickering in March, having previously lived in a women's refuge in Barry. The pair had known each other since school, and the judge said Ms Dowey was "besotted" with Pickering.
Mathew Pickering (WALES NEWS SERVICE)Judge Thomas said it was his view that Pickering had killed Ms Dowey in a "jealous rage" having discovered messages on her phone from another man. He said: "What's been both striking and chilling about this case was that in the first 36 hours after you killed her you just went about calmly covering your tracks with not a hint of anything untoward, not even when you went to your parents the following day.
"There was not the merest flicker of anything resembling emotion or sympathy or regret demonstrated by you. All you have demonstrated throughout this process is cold, callous, self-interest."
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector David Butt said: "This sentence represents justice being served for Georgina's murder - at the hands of her own partner. The actions Mathew Pickering took in his attempt to get away with murder were partially caught on CCTV. Georgina was last seen alive on Friday, May 5. The murder took place either later that evening or during the early hours of the following morning.
Pickering being arrested (WALES NEWS SERVICE)"He spent approximately 40 hours covering his tracks while Georgina's body lay on the floor of his downstairs toilet. On Saturday, May 6, he sent the following text to Georgina's phone: 'Did you make it to Merthyr ok? x'. He sent this text in full knowledge that her body was at his home. At 16:31 that afternoon, he went to the corner shop on his street to buy bleach. He would later claim that he purchased the bleach as 'his cat was playing in the blood on the living room floor', so he had to wipe it up.
"He also got rid of key evidence by placing items in bins in the local area, including items that were found in a dog waste bin. Georgina had two mobile phones - neither of which have been found - and it is believed that Mathew Pickering disposed of them. He made disclosures to family members about what he had done the following day.
"My thoughts remain with Georgina's family who are understandably devastated by what has happened. I would like to thank the local community and witnesses for the support they have provided to this investigation."
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