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00:10I'm David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology, and for over 30 years, I've
00:17investigated the phenomenon of murder, and what it is that might motivate someone to
00:23kill. Every murder case is different, but time and again, a deadly pattern emerges of warning
00:34signs and red flags. In this new series, I investigate some of the UK's most harrowing
00:45murder cases to understand how and why these terrible crimes occur.
00:55This is Murder UK.
01:21In Brighouse, West Yorkshire, 48-year-old Dawn Walker is bringing up her two-year-old
01:27youngest daughters.
01:31My mum was outgoing and really the life and soul of the party and she was just herself,
01:40always, and told the truth. My mum was funny. She could walk into a room and the whole room
01:47would just lighten up, definitely loud, so you could hear her, even if she wasn't there.
01:55And she'd always make sure that everyone was cared for and loved and happy, even if she
02:02wasn't, you know, so very selfless. You know, she was my best friend.
02:09She loved the kids. She did. She loved them. By 2018, 12 years had passed since Dawn's divorce.
02:17She tried dating but, you know, it'd never be the one, not the one she was looking for.
02:23She just wanted someone because the children were growing up and moving on with their lives.
02:30In the spring of that year, Dawn meets a man online, Thomas Nutt.
02:37He's a scrap metal dealer with three children from a previous relationship.
02:43The first time she mentioned Thomas is when she was like,
02:47I'm speaking to this guy and, you know, he seems like really lovely and I was like, go for it.
02:54You know, it makes you happy.
02:56I felt like she deserved to be with someone and that after so long of not being with someone,
03:02she deserved to be happy.
03:05Not everyone in Dawn's family, however, was impressed by the new man in her life.
03:10It was my 70th birthday. He came into the pub to pick our Dawn up.
03:17We said hi to him.
03:20You shouldn't really judge a book by its cover, I know,
03:22but you know when you've got a feeling that we knew there was something not right.
03:31Which none of us liked him.
03:36Barely eight weeks into the relationship,
03:38Dawn Walker and Thomas Nutt decide to live together.
03:44When I first met Thomas, he was actually moving his things into our home.
03:49I remember my mum coming in and saying,
03:51Thomas has got nowhere to live, his mum's kicked him out.
03:54And Thomas is bringing boxes upon boxes upon boxes, laughing and joking that he's moving in.
04:02She probably sees someone who's both charismatic and friendly and outgoing
04:06and that can be really exciting, especially if she's been spending most of her time socialising with herself
04:10or even her family who she loves, but not having that other outlet to interact with and socialise with quite
04:16as much.
04:17And also it would probably feel really validating and special for her to be getting that kind of positivity and
04:22attention,
04:24especially after so many years without those kinds of interactions.
04:29Thomas Nutt didn't just want to live with Dawn, he wanted to dominate her entire life.
04:38He wanted to impose himself on every aspect of her life.
04:44And he does that through what many people would call love bombing.
04:48And what that love bombing would do in the short term is make Dawn feel valued, feel validated.
04:56But ironically, what that will also do is isolate her from family and friends who might have been able to
05:05give her support,
05:06but she's going to become more and more isolated because the love bombing is in fact grooming her.
05:16She just, I think, just jumped in because it showed her all the attention, everything she wanted to hear.
05:24Turned out to be wrong.
05:32When I started working as a waitress, I used to treat my mum every time I got paid.
05:37So we'd go out for something to eat and, you know, have a laugh and have proper, like, daughter and
05:43mother time.
05:43And it was just really nice.
05:46And then suddenly Thomas moving in.
05:50After that, it would just go downhill and I would never see my mum.
05:57Thomas would try to take that time away from my mum with being with her daughters.
06:03So that monthly treat of me taking her out, I wasn't allowed to do.
06:08And it got to a point where I wasn't allowed to go into my mum's bedroom.
06:12Just to talk to, like, stand in my mum's bedroom and talk, like, as you would do.
06:17I wasn't allowed to go in.
06:19Dawn's daughters soon saw other worries in Thomas Nutt's behaviour.
06:25Thomas would always be snappy at my mum and say, like, certain degrading comments towards her.
06:33Like, she wasn't allowed to wear little vest tops with a tiny strap.
06:37Because people could see her breasts more.
06:40Or she wasn't allowed to wear certain, like, outfits.
06:44So she had a pair of shorts, she'd have to change to leggings.
06:47He said certain things like, without me, you have nothing and I'm the man.
06:53You're just a small woman with no place to go, basically.
06:58I think he proper degraded her to the point where she thought she was worthless.
07:04The behaviour that Dawn's daughters describe isn't just a man being snappy.
07:09This is what we would call, more technically, coercive control.
07:13Nutt is beginning to control every aspect of Dawn's life.
07:18The clothes that she wears, where her finances might be spent.
07:22And, of course, the more he's in control of all those aspects of her life,
07:28the more degraded her self-worth must be.
07:32She is constantly being told that without him, she's nothing.
07:37And, of course, that further sense of being isolated and alone
07:42is one in which Nutt can exploit to his own advantage.
07:48She wasn't allowed to phone all the time
07:51and Thomas would always check on her phone
07:53and it was always about him, it was never about us.
07:57She'd push us away more than what she'd ever do.
08:00It was all just a big change and it was a bit hard to accept.
08:18After just a few months, the atmosphere in the house has become so toxic
08:22that Kalaina and Kira Lee felt they had no choice but to move out.
08:28They simply could no longer handle being around Nutt any longer.
08:40The fact that Nutt persuades Dawn to get her daughters to move out of the house
08:44and to maybe break connection with them really speaks to his controlling nature.
08:49He understands that the daughters are the ones who can break his connection with Dawn
08:54and break his control over Dawn.
08:55And so by putting a wedge between them and their relationship, it allows him to have more control and more
09:00influence over Dawn.
09:0518 months into the relationship, Dawn's daughters are rarely in the house.
09:11Nutt's influence is now total, controlling her money, her movements and, ultimately, her entire life.
09:20She had no control over anything.
09:23He controlled her own money, he controlled her phone, he controlled, basically, where she went.
09:29And if she was out without him, he'd be calling her phone every five minutes to the point where she'd
09:36leave
09:37because she were fed up of him calling.
09:40I just felt like my mum were trapped and she couldn't escape.
09:49We have a picture that Dawn is subject to a coercive and controlling behaviour.
09:55There were changes in her personality that were noted by those closest to her.
10:00From being an outgoing woman, she became quite withdrawn.
10:04She was cutting herself off from friends, from her children even.
10:08We know as well that he exerted a degree of control over who it was she could communicate with.
10:15Not only did he take her mobile phone, but also we know that he controlled her finances.
10:22He had her cards and her access, therefore, to money was extremely limited.
10:29We all tried to say things to her Dawn, but she didn't really listen to anybody.
10:36I think she was just listening to her heart, not her head.
10:47After Christmas, I came for a holiday and I remember we went out that day, me and mum.
10:52We had a really nice time.
10:54We've come home and she started, like, coughing and sneezing.
10:59And she started getting a really high temperature.
11:01So, she went upstairs and she didn't make tea.
11:06So, Thomas took himself upstairs and started shouting.
11:11So, I've gone upstairs and I've shouted at Thomas, like,
11:14why do you feel the need to shower at her like that?
11:17You're a grown man, you can make your own tea.
11:20You know, she doesn't need to bow down and kiss your feet.
11:25And she started getting into my face and gripping me on my shoulders.
11:30To the point where he threw me on my mum's bed.
11:33So, I kicked him off me.
11:35He was like, you're just a jealous little girl with nowhere to live, nowhere to go and no one to
11:40love.
11:43He was then coming to the bedroom I was staying in and he looked at me.
11:47Like, you can see in his eyes there was this look that Thomas gave you when he was angry.
11:52And Thomas has pushed my head onto the side of a wall.
11:56And it just started running with blood.
12:01I mean, that scared me.
12:06Like, Kira came running out the house and she said what Thomas had done.
12:12And our daughter was crying.
12:15And I just shouted to her, I said,
12:17what are you doing letting him put his hands on my granddaughter?
12:20I went, your daughter?
12:22I know mum, I know.
12:24I went, where is he? She went, it's gone.
12:29My mum was just stood there like, I don't know what to do.
12:32I love him, but he'd done that.
12:34He didn't mean to do that.
12:35And I was like, mum, look what he's done.
12:38For no apparent reason.
12:40You didn't make him tease, so he bashed my head in.
12:44And she was like, I just don't know what to do.
12:51She tried to make excuses for his behaviour and why he turned
12:56and his switch went from zero to 100.
13:00But I knew she were going to get back with him.
13:06Of course, the common sense question that people always ask in these circumstances
13:11is why does the woman stay in a relationship that's abusive?
13:18And what people don't, I think, understand
13:22is that there are a number of psychological reasons why they stay.
13:26And we always have to remember when they choose to leave is, ironically,
13:32the time when they're most at danger.
13:35But often people will stay because of trauma bonding.
13:38Often they will stay because of learned helplessness,
13:42that they believe that somehow they can't survive without the person
13:46who's actually abusing them.
13:49Despite the shocking attack on her own daughter,
13:53Dawn decides to continue her relationship with Thomas Nutt.
13:59It wasn't our Dawn.
14:02Our Dawn wouldn't have done that.
14:04Never in a million years.
14:06So I don't know.
14:08I don't know what he had over her.
14:12I just don't know.
14:18My name's Emma Covington.
14:20I'm a senior Crown prosecutor
14:21and I was the reviewing lawyer in this case.
14:25For Dawn to leave this particular relationship,
14:27it would have meant her leaving her home,
14:30leaving where she felt comfortable,
14:32leaving her community, effectively.
14:35And those are massive things to do
14:37when you are already somebody who is extremely vulnerable
14:40because you are being abused by somebody
14:43who you trust the most.
14:46Kira Lee, heartbroken by her mother's decision,
14:50makes an equally difficult choice.
14:53She won't report the assault she suffered to the police.
14:58I didn't want the police coming to mum's door.
15:02I didn't want it to affect her life.
15:08The Covid pandemic sweeps Britain.
15:12And with it, lockdown rules are introduced and enforced.
15:18This further isolates Dawn Walker.
15:21She's now trapped in her home with the man who's assaulted her daughter
15:26and cut her off from her own family.
15:30Wherever my mum was, Thomas would be a foot behind.
15:34Go to the back garden, that's where he'd go.
15:37Mum's going to the front to say good morning to the neighbours at eight o'clock.
15:41He's going to be there.
15:43She didn't have control of her life.
15:47As bad as things appeared to those who loved Dawn,
15:50the danger was about to escalate.
15:54Because Nut was harbouring a secret and violently abusive past.
16:00This is a man who has a long-standing history of violence against women and girls,
16:05particularly those that he's in a close intimate relationship with.
16:12As the lockdown continues, a desperate attempt is made to reach Dawn.
16:18One of Nut's former partners contacts her.
16:23She needs Dawn to know the truth about him.
16:29In 2015, his ex-partner was assaulted by him in front of their child.
16:33He punched her to the head.
16:37And caused a wound.
16:38And in fact, she obtained a restraining order as a result of that incident.
16:44She was worried that he would go on and kill somebody.
16:48And in fact, that's the reason why she got in touch with Dawn Walker,
16:51to warn her that she was in danger.
16:55The fact that Mr Nut's ex-partner felt the need to warn Dawn
17:00shows just how significant that violence has been
17:03throughout his previous offending history.
17:06I often say that the best indication of future behaviour
17:11is previous behaviour.
17:13And strangulation, therefore, is a likely behaviour
17:18that he will use within his relationship with Dawn.
17:22And of course, with strangulation, you're just a few breaths away
17:28from taking someone's life.
17:31But even as she receives this lifeline, this desperate warning,
17:37Dawn is not free to respond.
17:39Dawn did in fact say to Mr Nut's previous girlfriend
17:43that she could only text her at certain times because he had access to her mobile phone
17:49and he was very controlling.
17:50There then became a point within those conversations where Dawn had to say,
17:54can you please stop messaging me because I don't want Nut to find out that I've been in contact with
17:59you.
18:01She was clearly trapped.
18:03She was clearly frightened.
18:05She was clearly conflicted.
18:08About a week later, I got her a phone call from my mum's phone.
18:13So I obviously, you know, I answered it like, hi, mum.
18:16So a woman answered saying, hi, it's the next door neighbour.
18:20Your mum was being assaulted by Thomas.
18:25And she's not in a good way.
18:29The extent of the attack involved a very significant feature,
18:35which was that he tried to strangle her.
18:37He also broke her ribs.
18:41Mum was sat on the couch crying and her face were all swollen, all red.
18:47And she was all shaking.
18:49She was just in shock.
18:52Mum was covered in scratches, bruises, a bust lip.
18:57And she basically said that he tried to strangle her and pin her to the bed.
19:03She did use the words, I think he tried to kill me.
19:08I was so angry and I remember standing at my mum's window
19:12and the police have surrounded Thomas.
19:14He was stood in front of the house.
19:16I stood in the window waving and smiling at him
19:18whilst the handcuffs were getting put on him.
19:23She was just sat kind of rocking on the edge of the settee.
19:27She couldn't breathe properly cos she'd got broken ribs.
19:30And she kept saying, he's gonna kill me.
19:32He's gonna kill me now.
19:36Thomas Nutt is arrested and remanded in custody,
19:40meaning he would be detained while he awaited his trial.
19:44Finally, it's a chance for Dawn and her daughters to plan a life free from Nutt.
19:51When he was in prison, it actually felt like I was getting my own mum back.
19:56Like, she was herself again.
19:59She was, like, spending more time with me and spending more time with Kira.
20:05And I did tell her that, you know, you're not getting back with him.
20:08Just, he's in prison now. You can forget about him.
20:13But the nightmare wasn't over.
20:15From prison, Thomas Nutt launches his counterattack,
20:20a series of letters to Dawn.
20:23Investigators are all too familiar with the way violent partners
20:27manipulate their victims from behind bars.
20:31Was this Nutt's plan? To retain control?
20:36He told her word for word what to say to the solicitor,
20:39what to say to the police to retract the statements.
20:44I remember mum texting me saying,
20:48I cannot cope on my own. I love and care, I'm so sorry.
20:52We mustn't imagine that simply because the abuser goes to prison,
20:57that somehow the coercive control would necessarily stop.
21:02Nutt maintains a constant presence in Dawn's life
21:06through letter writing and no doubt also through phone calling.
21:11And what he also does in these letters is present himself as the victim.
21:16And therefore he's playing on this learned helplessness
21:20that's been embedded within their relationship.
21:24So it doesn't matter that he's gone to jail.
21:27He constantly retains a presence in Dawn's life.
21:31But all of Nutt's manipulation would now culminate on the day of his trial.
21:38So in this particular case, Dawn actually attended court, got to the door of court,
21:42but felt that she wasn't in a position to give evidence against Nutt.
21:45And as a result of that, the Crown had to drop the case and he was released from custody.
21:51It's something which happens quite a lot in domestic violence cases, unfortunately.
21:54We are in a position to bring charges, but by the time the case comes to court,
22:00the complainant, usually the female involved, has had time to consider what's going to happen
22:06if she gives evidence against her violent partner.
22:10And quite often, as was in the case previously with Dawn,
22:13they feel that they can't go through and give evidence.
22:16And as a result, cases sometimes need to be discontinued.
22:23And he came out of prison and moved back in.
22:32In the spring of 2021, Keira Lee has a baby.
22:36Now a grandmother, Dawn tries to persuade her daughter and grandchild
22:42to move back in with her and Nutt.
22:47She was like, he's changed, just come here.
22:51So, me trusting my mum, I came to my mum's house a few days before.
22:58It was like Thomas was a changed man.
23:04Different.
23:05It was like...
23:07He wasn't even...
23:08I would say something to him that could have triggered him a few months before.
23:11And he'd laugh with me.
23:14He seemed a lot more happier in himself.
23:17Mum and Thomas together seemed a lot happier.
23:21There did seem to be a period of time
23:24when Nutt had kind of turned over a new leaf.
23:29People were beginning to think he'd changed.
23:32But for me, all that suggests is that misogyny,
23:37that hatred, that contempt, that intense dislike for women,
23:42can be masked very successfully
23:46if you know the right things to say,
23:48if you know the right ways to behave.
23:50The misogyny hadn't disappeared.
23:53It was simply in abeyance.
23:56It was simply on pause.
23:58A few months later, there was an announcement.
24:02One that nobody was expecting.
24:13I was just like, why are you getting married?
24:17I thought it was a very stupid idea and I told them both that.
24:22I didn't know they were getting married until the week before
24:25when Mum asked me to be a bridesmaid.
24:29I was in shock, but at the same time I was happy for Mum and for Thomas.
24:35As the wedding day approaches,
24:37Dawn's family notice that she doesn't seem herself.
24:42Finding a wedding dress, she was like,
24:44yeah, it's nice, but don't really want that one.
24:46Don't want that one.
24:47You know, the risk for the bridesmaid.
24:50She was, it was like a chore.
24:52She didn't seem excited for it.
24:54She kind of seemed like it was a rushed thing.
24:56I don't think that's really truly what she wanted.
25:01I don't think so.
25:09She wasn't really happy on the wedding day.
25:14She was just like, you know, getting ready slowly.
25:17She was just shaking all the time.
25:20I thought it was a bit strange, but I just thought it was nerves.
25:23She didn't have makeup on.
25:25She didn't have a dress on.
25:27She didn't even have a dress hung up in the bedroom.
25:29And we was getting picked up in 40 minutes.
25:32And then she was just slumped on the bed, on the phone.
25:36And her voice even sounded like drones.
25:41Yeah, really long.
25:44She just looked sad.
25:46And I asked her what's wrong.
25:48And she said, I think something bad will happen.
25:54She's showing to everybody who watches her that she's not excited by what's happening.
26:01This isn't the happiest day of her life.
26:04She recognizes this is a kind of legal and social entrapment because of the marriage ceremony itself.
26:13It's terribly tragic in itself to think that that is happening.
26:19And the fact that Dawn is so visibly distressed that people can see this distress was also perhaps a last
26:28cry for help.
26:32So we went to the register office and there was Thomas's mum and stepdad and basically all of Thomas's friends.
26:43By contrast, Dawn's only guests are her two daughters.
26:49One of my granddaughters ran me up and said,
26:52Nana, as Auntie Dawn got married, and I went, what?
26:57She said, somebody just put something on social media and it says,
27:03Congratulations, Dawn and Thomas Nutt on your wedding day.
27:07I was annoyed that she hadn't said anything.
27:11But then I understand why.
27:15I think it's him what's probably said to our Dawn,
27:21Don't tell your mum.
27:25The fact that there were very few friends or family from Dawn's side at her wedding to Nutt
27:32is a kind of physical explanation, a physical expression of the control that Nutt by that stage had exercised over
27:41her.
27:42He was able to isolate her from a support network.
27:46And, of course, Dawn must have felt even more trapped as she went into that service,
27:52knowing that there was nobody there, really, that would be able to help her.
28:01It's heartbreaking.
28:04I didn't want to be there at a wedding.
28:07Not to him. No.
28:09At the reception, her daughters feel that Dawn still doesn't seem to be herself.
28:16She didn't really speak to anyone. She didn't really say much.
28:19She almost had to hold her hand still to keep the wedding ring on,
28:24because she was shaking that much that she couldn't give him her hand.
28:29She was sat on the table with me and my sister,
28:32and we was talking together, but she wasn't as happy as what her bride should have been.
28:42It was about between, like, seven and a half, seven on the wedding night,
28:47and I got a taxi home, and the last thing I said to my mum was, like,
28:51goodbye and I love you and I gave her a kiss.
28:54Later that night, the newlyweds are captured on CCTV returning home,
29:01where they're due to spend a few days before going on their honeymoon
29:05to the seaside town of Skegness.
29:08But at the last minute, the plan changes.
29:15I got a message early morning of the Friday,
29:20saying, we've gone away for a few days, I've lost my phone.
29:24Basically, we'll be back for Halloween.
29:27For three days, Dawn's family hears nothing.
29:31Then Kira Lee receives a text.
29:36Hi, it's your mum.
29:38Basically, can you meet me at Wilco's at half ten?
29:41So I've agreed to it.
29:46Got to half ten, she didn't turn up.
29:48So I've called Thomas.
29:50He's then come down, and we went around Brickhouse looking for my mum.
29:56Because he told me it was half nine when she set off walking.
30:01It's not a usual self.
30:02My mum wouldn't just casually go missing.
30:05She wouldn't go for hours without telling people where she was.
30:10At that time, he was saying, we've had an argument.
30:13She didn't want to come back.
30:15I think she's doing this because it's Halloween and she's playing a trick on you.
30:19He then said to me, I even cleaned the house, Kira, to make sure your mum's in a good mood
30:25for when she gets home.
30:27I said, you cleaning?
30:28I went, you don't even know how to wash your clothes properly.
30:32I went, and you cleaned the whole house?
30:34She went, yeah, I went, all right.
30:36And I just thought that was really strange.
30:42They all went round Brickhouse with a picture of mum and asked if anyone's seen her, but no one did.
30:49My sister and Thomas went to hospitals, seeing if she's there.
30:53I was in panic mode. I was, like, stressing out, didn't know what to do.
31:00My gut instinct was saying that something terrible has happened.
31:07He took me back to my mum's house to make my son some lunch.
31:13I was like, you need to call the police.
31:15He said, no, wait 48 hours.
31:18So, we pressured him.
31:20Until the next door neighbour basically forced him to file a missing persons report.
31:26And it was, like, a whole shift of mood.
31:30He rushed me to feed my son.
31:33He said, you need to get home now.
31:35They're going to search this house.
31:38It got to 4 o'clock and I was scared.
31:42But I had this kind of feeling in my stomach when Thomas stopped answering me.
31:47That something bad's happened.
31:50Keira text me saying, mum's gone missing.
31:54And I went, he hadn't strangled her and done her in, I say.
31:57Those were my exact words.
32:01I knew in the bottom of my stomach, I knew there was something not right.
32:09I think it was around half past 11, 12 o'clock at night, when we got the confirmation, when the
32:15police came and they confirmed that a body had been found.
32:19And they suspecting it was dawn.
32:24I just didn't believe that mum was dead.
32:35I was screamed.
32:37I just dropped to the floor, I couldn't move.
32:40They just said that a body had been recovered in a field, in a case.
32:48Investigators begin collecting evidence from a bloody scene.
32:52The attack on Dawn was savage.
32:56The force of the strangulation was sufficient to fracture the hyoid cartilage in the neck.
33:02There were also a series of blows to her head.
33:06And we know that her body was unceremoniously dumped in a suitcase and then taken to a location and dumped.
33:17That just tipped us all over edge.
33:20I thought, how could anybody stoop so low to do things like that?
33:25She was only a little.
33:32I don't believe it until I see it, so I chose to ID my mother's body.
33:38I was just hoping and praying that it wasn't mum and that they've got the wrong body and that they've
33:45ID'd incorrectly.
33:47But when I saw her laying there, it was, like, shockness.
33:55But when you actually see the injuries and you see other injuries, it's like, just hits you like, wow.
34:02Like, the force and things like that of how she died.
34:11She had a black eye and a broken nose and her jaw was bruised and she had a bruise on
34:20the side of her face.
34:22Her whole face was bruised and swollen.
34:26Of course, I knew it were him. I knew what he'd done.
34:30And I knew, in my heart and hearts, we all did, that he'd done it on the wedding night.
34:36We just knew.
34:39He goes to a neighbour and tells them that he's killed Dawn and that he needs to hand himself in.
34:44And he presents himself at the police station and says that he has killed his wife.
34:51Thomas Knott tells the police that he killed Dawn when they returned from their honeymoon.
34:56But he claims it was all an accident.
35:01Knott admitted manslaughter, that he had killed Dawn,
35:06but he had only intended to inflict some harm on her, not significant harm.
35:12He gave an account that the killing had arisen
35:16because he had attempted to restrain Dawn in the course of a physical argument between them.
35:22Thomas made it out that it was self-defence and an accident.
35:27But Knott's account of what happened constantly changes.
35:31His first reason was that they were arguing in scaveness all the time.
35:36They'd come home and she was screaming and shouting and he tried to restrain her.
35:41Another reason was he went out for a grocery shop and when he came back,
35:46she had a knife and she tried to stab him.
35:50Another reason was because she was a jealous wife and that he apparently was cheating
35:57and she was accusing him of cheating, so he restrained her and she died.
36:04What the police were able to ascertain through CCTV and automatic number plate recognition investigations
36:10was that he travelled to Skegness.
36:13He was actually captured on CCTV footage at a toll station
36:17in which it was clear that Dawn wasn't in the front seat of the car.
36:22He stayed in Skegness for a number of days.
36:25He can be seen on CCTV footage going to shops.
36:28Dawn is not seen at all.
36:30The last sighting of Dawn was on the CCTV on the night of the wedding.
36:37A search of the home Dawn shared with Thomas Knott uncovers a chilling discovery.
36:43CCTV taken four days after Dawn went missing shows Knott dragging a large suitcase out of the house.
37:02What we see from CCTV footage is him dragging the suitcase through the back garden, around the corner.
37:09He's clearly needing to put some effort in.
37:13He's then seen throwing the suitcase over the fence and landing in someone's garden.
37:20And then he wheels the suitcase through someone's garden over this grassy area through a snicket
37:27and then dumping the suitcase in a bushy area.
37:31In the suitcase was Mum's body.
37:38Thomas Knott's story of self-defence is dismissed by the police and he's charged with Dawn Walker's murder.
37:46It will be up to a jury now to decide the truth.
37:54The Crown's case is after Knott had killed Dawn, he put her in a cupboard, an ex coal shed at
38:02the side of the house.
38:03And that's where he left her when he went to Skegness on the honeymoon.
38:08When he did put her in the suitcase, he caused fractured ribs and he also fractured her leg.
38:16And such was the force that he used in getting her into that suitcase to dispose of the body.
38:24The evidence is overwhelming that Knott disposed of Dawn's body.
38:30But the key question for the jury is, will the footage convince them that he intended to kill her?
38:38Her family fears that Knott might still avoid conviction for murder.
38:45The challenges for the prosecution appear to be that there were no witnesses to the event.
38:53Nobody heard it. Nobody saw it.
39:08In the 11 day trial, he had the wedding ring still on.
39:13And he were playing with his wedding ring and looking sad, looking down at it, pretending to be sad.
39:19But during the whole time, there was no empathy, no remorse, no nothing.
39:27He was just sat there not bothered. He had his legs crossed, he had his arm crossed, slouching.
39:33He was smirking at some of the points.
39:35Then when people come up as a witness, he was like trying to intimidate them by staring at them, leaning
39:41forward.
39:43Just horrible.
39:45Thomas Knott does not express remorse.
39:50And at court, the smirking, the playing with the ring, are merely forms of manipulation.
39:57There's no genuine emotion here.
39:59This is simply a misogynist who at last is going to have to face the music for what he's done.
40:07During the trial, Knott's former partner gives powerful evidence.
40:13She wrote a particularly impactful statement in which she said that one woman had come out of the relationship with
40:21Knott alive and one hadn't.
40:24And that she was the lucky one.
40:26It was made clear to the jury that this was a man who did have a significant history of domestic
40:32violence.
40:33And he was not able to hide that.
40:38Having heard all of the evidence, the jury retires to consider its verdict.
40:43The waiting was nervous.
40:47And the jury man stood up and said,
40:52Guilty.
40:54We all stood up and we cheered.
41:00Not because, you know, it wasn't a happy cheers, but that man has been found guilty and he is responsible
41:06for my mum's murder.
41:07And he stood up and he just told us all to F you.
41:13And it just kind of shows how evil he actually is.
41:16There's no sense of remorse or no word of a sorry or admitting to what he's done.
41:25And he'll never do it because he's a coward.
41:28Knott is given a life sentence and is ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years in prison.
41:40The judge made clear that his view was that Dawn had been killed on the very night she had married
41:47Knott.
41:48Then Knott's account, which was unsupported by other evidence,
41:53that he and Dawn had gone together on a honeymoon to Skegness,
41:57was revealed as being a complete deceit.
42:00She's come back from her wedding.
42:02It's supposed to be this positive day.
42:03And then things quickly turn and it reinforces all the worries that she would have had.
42:08So you could really see that in that moment her worst fears are probably realized.
42:12And this man that she's been protecting and trying to believe the best of
42:15really is as bad and as dangerous as everyone has been saying.
42:19He also took the deliberate decision to put her body into a suitcase
42:24and then to dump it in an attempt to evade responsibility for his actions.
42:31What kind of an animal would do something like that to a human being?
42:37It just doesn't bear thinking about...
42:44The way I see it, you already beat her, you beat my mum to death.
42:49And then for you to carry on beating her after she's died,
42:53breaking her bones and doing it in the most undignified way,
42:57it shows what kind of person he is.
43:03Sadly, what this case seems to suggest is that unless you can get the law
43:10or extended family and friends to intervene on behalf of the victim,
43:16then the best indication of future behaviour is past behaviour.
43:21And Thomas Nutt's past behaviour was on a trajectory that was only ever going to go in one direction.
43:31And that direction was to use lethal violence.
43:34And sadly, Don was the victim of that lethal violence.
43:44I think the thing which was most difficult from my point of view is the manipulation of Keira,
43:53because for a number of hours made her think that there was a chance that her mother would be found
43:59whilst he knew full well that she was already dead.
44:05That afternoon of Halloween, when I went to my mum's house,
44:12my mum was in the kitchen cupboard,
44:16and I didn't know.
44:19We wasn't even two metres apart.
44:25It just shows what an animal, what a brute he is.
44:34There isn't a day gone by where I haven't cried.
44:43But, you know, I know all the tears in the world aren't going to bring my daughter back.
44:51But she was my daughter, and I do. I loved her so much.
44:59I feel more guilt towards me not helping my mum out.
45:05And anger towards Thomas taking that opportunity of my mum loving my son.
45:12Pointing, he still points to photos today and says Nana and kisses her.
45:19And it hurts.
45:22She didn't get to see his first birthday.
45:32It's, it's difficult.
45:34You know, it's, it's just absolutely ruined this family. It really has.
45:42I feel like I've had my heart ripped out. I do.
45:47And I hope and I pray that another family
45:51doesn't have to go through what we've gone through.
45:55Please, if you are in that relationship, get out of it now.
46:00Get out of it now while you can.
46:03Because you'll end up like my daughter.
46:05Or, I'm not, I'm not.
46:10I'm not even a.
46:13Because you'll end up like my daughter.
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