Kelly Bates, born on 18 May 1978, met a tragic end on 16 April 1996, when she was brutally m*rdered in Manchester, England, at the age of 17, by her ab*ser, James Patterson Smith, who was born around 1948. Over a gru*some four-week period, she endured t*rture, including the gou.ging of her eyes three weeks prior to her d*ath, ultimately culminating in her drowning in a bathtub.
James Patterson Smith.
James Patterson Smith.
The investigation into this heinous crime was led by Detective Sergeant Joseph Monaghan of Greater Manchester Police, who, after 15 years in the police force, remarked, “I have never seen a case as horrific as this.” William Lawler, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Bates’ body, characterized her injuries as the most severe he had ever encountered in a m*rder victim. Despite Smith’s denial of m*rdering Bates, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 November 1997, given his history of violence and t*rture against previous se*ual partners.
Background
James Smith, an unemployed divorcee residing in the Gorton area of Manchester, was characterized by acquaintances as “house-proud” and “well groomed.” Despite being a teetotaller and non-smoker, his past revealed a dark history. His marriage, which lasted ten years, ended in 1980 due to his violent behavior towards his wife. Following this, he entered a tumultuous relationship with Tina Watson, subjecting her to severe beatings, even during her pregnancy. Watson managed to escape, having endured Smith’s ab*se, which included attempts to drown her while bathing.
After this relationship concluded in 1982, Smith began seeing 15-year-old Wendy Mottershead, whom he also ab*sed. In one particularly violent incident, he attempted to drown her by holding her head underwater in the kitchen sink.
In 1993, Smith initiated a disturbing relationship with Kelly Bates when she was just 14 years old, having met her while she was babysitting. Approximately two years later, Bates moved in with Smith, concealing the significant age difference from her parents, Tommy and Margaret Bates.
Margaret Bates expressed her discomfort with Smith, stating, “As soon as I saw Smith, the hairs on the back of my neck went up. I tried everything I could to get Kelly Anne away from him.”
Despite brief separations due to arguments, Bates returned to live with Smith at Furnival Road by the end of November 1995. Concerns arose as her parents noticed bruises, which she explained away as accidents. Her demeanor became increasingly withdrawn, leading to her resignation from her part-time job in December 1995. In March 1996, Bates’ parents received cards purportedly from her, but only Smith had written in them. When her brother tried to see her at the house, Smith said she was not at home. When a concerned neighbour asked after her, she was briefly shown at an upstairs window.
M*rder
On 16 April 1996, Smith informed authorities that, during an argument in a bathtub, he had unintentionally caused the d*ath of his girlfriend. He asserted that she had drowned after inhaling water during his resuscitation attempts. He further claimed that she often pretended to be unconscious. Upon arriving at Smith’s residence, the police discovered Bates’ unclothed body in a bedroom.
Blood traces were found throughout the house, and a post-mortem examination unveiled more than 150 distinct injuries on her body. In the last month of her life, she had been consistently restrained, sometimes tethered to a radiator or furniture by her hair, and at other times, by her neck using a ligature.
William Lawler, the Home Office pathologist who examined her remains, remarked, “In my career, I have examined almost 600 victims of hom*cide, but I have never come across injuries so extensive.”
The identified injuries on Bates’ body included scalding on her but.tocks and left leg, burns on her thigh from a hot iron, a fractured arm, multiple s*ab wounds from knives, forks, and scissors, s*ab wounds inside her mouth, crush injuries to both hands, mut*lation of her ears, nose, eyebrows, mouth, lips, and geni.talia, wounds from a spade and pruning shears, gouging out of both eyes, subsequent s*ab wounds to the empty eye sockets, partial scalping, and removal of her eyes “not less than five days and not more than three weeks before her d*ath.”
She had suffered starvation, losing approximately 20 kg in weight, and had been deprived of water for several days leading up to her demise. In the trial, Peter Openshaw, the prosecutor, asserted, “It was as if he deliberately disfigured her, causing her the utmost pain, distress, and degradation… The injuries were not the result of one sudden eruption of violence; they must have been caused over a long period [and] were so extensive and so terrible that the defendant must have deliberately and systematically t*rtured the girl.” The determined cause of d*ath was drowning, preceded by a severe beating to the head with a showerhead.
Trial
Smith refuted the accusation of m*rder, asserting that Bates would deliberately provoke him, subjecting him to emotional distress. He contended that Bates had taunted him about his deceased mother and had a habit of inflicting harm upon herself to exaggerate the situation. When questioned about the brutal actions of blinding, st*bbing, and battering Bates, he claimed she had dared him to carry out these acts, challenging him to cause her harm. During the court proceedings, Gillian Mezey, a consultant psychiatrist, testified that Smith suffered from “a severe paranoid disorder with morbid jealousy” and lived in a “distorted reality.”
The jury at Manchester Crown Court deliberated for only one hour before finding the 49-year-old Smith guilty of m*rdering Bates. Upon sentencing him to life imprisonment, Judge Mr. Justice Sachs recommended a minimum term of 20 years for Smith.
The judge remarked, “This has been a terrible case; a catalogue of depravity by one human being upon another. You are a highly dangerous person. You are an ab*ser of women, and I intend, so far as it is in my power, that you will abuse no more.”
Recognizing the distress caused by the photographs of Bates’ injuries and the heinous violence in the case, the jury members were offered professional counseling, which all of them accepted.
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