A man who brutally murdered his girlfriend before decapitating her has been jailed for 23 years.
Ewan Methven killed Phoenix Spencer-Horn at their home in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, last November.
The 27 year-old postman later dialled 999 himself insisting he had a drug-induced blackout and could not remember what he had done.
But it emerged that after stabbing the 21-year-old to death, he mutilated her body, pretended to her mother she was still alive while also trawling the internet for pornography for hours.
Methven admitted to the gruesome murder as he appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.
Judge Lord Matthews ordered Methven to spend at least 23 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
The judge said: ‘You pleaded guilty to a dreadful crime, namely the murder of Phoenix Spencer-Horn who was a much loved and sorely missed daughter, sister, niece cousin and friend.
‘At age 21 and 134 days she was standing at the threshold of what should have been a long fulfilling life.
‘You were a trusted member of her family and you betrayed that trust and robbed her of a life in the cruellest way.
‘Not content with what you did to her, you robbed her of all dignity in death by decapitating her and tried to dismember her in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
‘I have rarely read such outpourings of grief as are contained in the Victim Impact Statements from her family, who have endeavoured to put into words what can never truly be encapsulated, the sadness and the deep sense of loss they all feel and will continue to feel thanks to what you did.
‘The way you treated her after her death meant that her family didn’t have the comfort of saying goodbye to her.
‘No punishment I can inflect or what I can say or do can be enough and the only sentence that I can impose is life.’
Members of Phoenix’s grieving relatives were at the sentencing.
Ewan Methven murdered his girlfriend and decapitated her
Phoenix Spencer-Horn was murdered by her evil boyfriend in November
The couple had started dating two years before the killing.
They had recently moved into the top floor one-bedroom flat in East Kilbride.
Methven was employed by the Royal Mail while Ms Spencer-Horn – known as ‘Phe’ – held part times jobs at both the Strathaven Hotel and a local coffee shop.
She had been working on November 16 – she was described as in ‘good spirits’.
Methven had texted her during her shift complaining of feeling ‘lonely’ due to her hours and she apologised to her boyfriend.
The postman had also been working that morning. He told a colleague he was then going home to ‘chill’.
He ordered a takeaway for the couple.
The young woman had contacted her mother at 9.37pm stating she was at home having dinner. That was the last communication she had with her daughter.
It was around midnight that a downstairs neighbour heard ‘loud noise and hurried footsteps’.
Prosecutor Chris McKenna said: ‘Around, or shortly after midnight on November 16 through to November 17, Methven attacked Phoenix by compressing her neck and repeatedly stabbing her to the head and body.’
The court then heard of Methven’s sick behaviour as his girlfriend lay dead including hacking at her with knives.
He repeatedly arranged to buy drugs by phone.
Ms Spencer-Horn’s mother Alison Spencer had also tried contacting her daughter on the morning of November 17.
Methven instead got in touch initially claiming ‘Phe is not up yet’ and that he would get her to message when she was.
The sick killer then later pretended to be his girlfriend and sent a text stating: ‘Hey sorry I’ve just woken up xxx.’ Another claimed Ms Spencer-Horn was ‘all good’.
Minutes after this, Methven logged on to the adult websites.
Mr McKenna said: ‘Throughout the day on November 17, analysis of his phone and search history revealed that, for prolonged period over several hours, he accessed pornography from 8.12am through to 6.39pm.
‘He was noted to have accessed a pornographic video site 170 times.’
Concerns were raised when Ms Spencer-Horn did not turn up for work on November 18.
Methen dialled 999 that afternoon stating he had had ‘a drug induced psychotic break’ and that he had ‘killed’ his girlfriend.
He told the operator: ‘The past day I have been trying to kind of muster up the courage to phone.
‘I totally blacked out through the full thing.’
He mentioned having ‘stabbed’ and ‘choked’ her.
Asked by an officer who came on the line if she could still be alive, Methven replied: ‘I know she is dead, mate – she is dead.’
Police soon arrived and made the grim discovery.
Mr McKenna told the court: ‘Phoenix’s naked and mutilated body with her head decapitated was discovered by police covered up within the hall of their home.
‘An attempt had also been made by him to sever her torso, right wrist and ankle from her body.
‘There were two bloodstained knives lying next to the mutilated body. A further bloodstained knife was found discarded in the bedroom.’
Among the remarks Methven made on his arrest were: ‘I could not stay here with her like that. I tried to dismember her. I moved her from the bath and put her there.’
Methven also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice including the mutilation of Phoenix’s body and lying to her mother.
His KC Tony Graham yesterday told the sentencing that he was ‘unable to offer an explanation to why the course of events led to her death other than his admission of drugs’.
The advocate quoted Methven who said: ‘I know how loved she was and how she made her family complete and I can’t believe I took her from them.’
Mr Graham added: ‘He appreciates in the whole circumstances that during the two year relationship he was adopted [by her family] and to that family he delivered the ultimate betrayal.’
