Sunday, February 24, 2013

Holiday Briton convicted of strangling his girlfriend to death before throwing her body in the sea

A British man accused of strangling his girlfriend to death in a jealous rage while on holiday in the Canary Islands has been found guilty of her murder.
Christopher Chittock, 38, was convicted of killing Sarah Shields by a jury of nine at the Provincial Court in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
The divorced father-of-one savagely beat and strangled the 23-year-old on a beach on the holiday island of Gran Canaria after finding text messages from an ex-boyfriend on her phone, the court heard.
Throttled: Sarah Shields was beaten and strangled by her jealous boyfriend on holidays before he flew back to Britain alone, the court heard
Sarah Shields was beaten and strangled by her jealous boyfriend on holidays before he flew back to Britain alone, the court heard
Throttled: Sarah Shields (right) was beaten and strangled by her jealous boyfriend Christopher Chittock (left) on holidays before he flew back to Britain alone
The 38-year-old then dumped her naked body in the sea, which was found floating in the water the following morning.

Chittock had denied murder and claimed that Ms Shields had left him for another British holidaymaker called Jason before she died.

His fit of jealousy on July 6 2010 began after he discovered messages exchanged between Ms Shields and ex-boyfriend William Newham, the jury heard.

Calling her a 'w****', he punched her repeatedly in the bedroom of the holiday apartment where they were staying in the popular resort of Mogan.

He then dragged her in the dark to a deserted beach, punched her to the ground, banged her head against a rock and strangled her to death.

Before burning her clothes, he dumped her body in the sea, where it was found the following morning.

The engineer then flew back to the home he shared with Ms Shields in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Chris Chittock, pictured during his trial, could now face up to 25 years in jail for the murder of his young girlfriend
Chris Chittock, pictured during his trial, could now face up to 25 years in jail for the murder of his young girlfriend
On trial: Chris Chittock, 38, sitting next to his translator in court today on the Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria accused of murdering Sarah Shields
On trial: Chris Chittock, 38, denied murdering Sarah Shields but was arrested just days after he flew back after killing her
In a desperate attempt to cover up his crime, he kept his girlfriend's phone and sent texts to her family pretending to be her.
But Chittock had been spotted with scratches on his face by another British holidaymaker sharing their apartment complex, the court heard.
The tourist said said he saw ‘fight’ marks on the engineer's chin and eye 24 hours after he had spotted a woman's body floating in the water from his room.
Nicholas Atkinson told Chittock's murder trial he saw the engineer eating alone without girlfriend of eight-months Sarah Shields the day after the gruesome July 7, 2010 discovery.
He said: ‘I was sat about a metre away from him in the restaurant at the apartments and clearly saw nail scratches on the left side of his face by his chin and another mark on his eye.
‘It looked to me as if he had been a fight. It was the day after the body that turned out to be Sarah's was found.
‘I'd seen the body floating in the sea near our apartment the previous morning after being woken up by my girlfriend.

Denial: Accused Chris Chittock is being shown evidence by the court clerk earlier today
Denial: Accused Chris Chittock was shown evidence by the court clerk during the trial
‘It was moving from right to left in the water. At first I thought I saw the legs moving but then realized it was just the waves.’
A European Arrest Warrant was issued and he was arrested three days after returning alone to their home at the end of their two-week holiday.
Chittock denied murder and claimed he last saw Sarah, a Katie Price fan who dreamed of becoming a lingerie model, when she left him for a mystery man called Jason she met on holiday the week before she was found dead.
Her ex-boyfriend William Newham told the jury of four men and five women trying Chittock at Las Palmas Provincial Court he had exchanged intimate text messages with Sarah after they split in 2007.
She sent him one message from Gran Canaria telling him she was sunbathing topless to which he replied: ‘I wouldn't mind seeing you.’
The court was told another she sent while she was still alive read: ‘It would be good if you were here. It's not the same with Chris,’.
It is alleged that Chittock burned Miss Shields's belongings but kept her phone to message her friends and family pretending she was not coming back to Ipswich
'I'm going to miss my dog': Chittock burned Miss Shields's belongings but kept her phone to message her friends and family pretending she was alive
Mr Newham said a message he received from Sarah's phone the day after she was found dead when Chittock was allegedly sending her friends and family fake texts, read: ‘Leave me alone, I'm happy now, I've moved on.’
Fighting back tears, he told the court: ‘I thought the way the text message was worded was odd.
‘The grammar and spelling didn't seem like the normal message Sarah would send.
‘I subsequently took a call from Sarah's brother Paul asking me if I had seen her because she hadn't returned home from her holiday.
‘I found out she had died when I spoke to a British police officer.’
The jury was shown pictures of blood later identified as Sarah's on large stones Chittock allegedly smashed her head on after breaking her nose with a flurry of punches.
Traces of blood containing Sarah's and Chittock's DNA were found on a mattress in their room during a police search.
A European Arrest Warrant was issued and he was detained in September 2010 before being extradited to Spain.
A local CID chief, who was not named in court, said the defendant was arrested in Britain after they had identified Sarah's body using a DNA sample sent to them by her mum Angela.
He now faces up to 25 years in jail.
DAILYMAIL

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