Lincoln man arrested for wife’s murder

A court was told that a “evil monster” killed his wife by stabbing her, dismembered her body into almost 200 pieces, and disposed of her remains in a river a few days later.

In March 2023, pieces of Holly Bramley’s body were discovered in the River Witham.
The 28-year-old Shuttleworth House resident in Lincoln, Nicholas Metson, will be sentenced on Monday after admitting to killing her.

After keeping his wife’s body hidden in their flat for almost a week, he hired his friend Joshua Hancock to dispose of it, according to testimony given at Lincoln Crown Court.
Metson never provided an explanation for how or why he killed his wife, according to information provided to His Honour Judge Simon Hirst on Friday at the sentence hearing.

The mother and siblings of Ms. Bramley presented victim impact statements in court, stating that the 26-year-old had been the victim of “coercive control and manipulation” by the “evil monster” and that their marriage had “broken down irretrievably.”
The court heard that although the couple had tied the knot in 2021, they were about to call it quits when Metson killed them.

Lincolnshire Police were summoned to the couple’s flat on March 24, 2023, because of concerns for Ms Bramley’s wellbeing, the prosecutor Gordon Aspden, KC, informed the judge.

When officers went to the house the next day, they found bloodstained sheets in the bathtub, a towel on the kitchen floor, and a strong ammonia and bleach scent.
There were hints of recent cleaning and redecoration. In the main bedroom, the police also found several huge dark spots on the floor, which subsequently proved to be Holly’s blood, according to Mr. Aspden.
Metson informed the cops that his spouse had mistreated him, displaying a bite mark on his forearm, and that on March 19, she had left the house to join a nearby mental health support group.

When police later went to inspect the unit, they discovered that Metson had lied to them.
“At one point Mr Metson joked she might be hiding under the bed,” added Aspden.

A walker “made a grim discovery” the next day, he claimed, when he saw plastic bags floating in the River Witham at Bassingham, one of which included a human hand.
The court heard that although police divers retrieved 224 of Ms. Bramley’s corpse’s remains, others of her body pieces were never located.

The 26-year-old was probably stabbed several times in the bedroom before being taken to the bathroom, where she was mutilated, according to Mr Aspden. Then they placed her remains in the kitchen larder.
According to him, Metson’s bite mark on her arm “suggests she was being restrained in a headlock”.

Metson took £50 from his wife’s bank account after killing her, and he used the money to look up answers to questions like “What benefits do I get if my wife has died” and “Can someone haunt me after they die” online.
Ms Bramley was last seen alive going back to her flat on March 17, according to CCTV evidence shown in court.

Additional CCTV footage saw Metson carrying a knapsack and utilising the apartment’s lift to transport bags from the 14th floor to the ground floor in the early hours of 25 March.

In court, Annette Bramley, the mother of Ms. Bramley, confronted Metson directly and informed him that her family had been sentenced “to a life sentence of grief” by him.

“The heinous way in which she was murdered and dismembered has left us in such unimaginable pain,” she stated.
The family had not been able to see Holly in the years prior to her murder, according to Mrs. Bramley, because of Metson’s domineering and oppressive actions.

The court heard that Metson had been found guilty in the past in 2013 and 2016 for acts against her ex-partners.
Metson had already acknowledged planning to dispose of Ms. Bramley’s body on March 25, 2023, in order to obstruct the administration of justice.
At Lincoln Crown Court last month, he entered a guilty plea after first denying any involvement in the murder.

Hancock, also 28 years old, of Walnut Close, Waddington, entered a guilty plea to hindering the Lincolnshire Coroner’s performance of his official duties by assisting with the disposal of Ms. Bramley’s remains.