Bournemouth murder trial: Accused woman lied to police

Prosecutors said Debbie Pereira “lied effortlessly” to officers when they detained her at her flat in Aylesbury Road, Boscombe.

She "protested ignorance" and told police she was alone, while her boyfriend Benjamin Atkins was hiding with a package of human remains in their back garden.

The defendant then “made up a pack of lies” across all three of her police interviews, and again in her defence statement, said prosecutor Paul Cavin KC.

Pereira and Atkins are currently facing trial accused of murdering 49-year-old Simon Shotton at their flat in Aylesbury Road in Boscombe, on August 18, 2023.

• WATCH the moment couple are arrested after alleged Bournemouth murder

His severed body parts were found dumped around Boscombe in the weeks that followed.

In giving evidence, Pereira denied all involvement in Mr Shotton’s killing, dismemberment and disposal, and said it was all Atkins.

She said she had witnessed a fight break out in their utility room in which Mr Shotton was “hunched over” Atkins, but was told by Atkins to return to the bedroom.

She recalled how Atkins joined her a few minutes later “covered in blood” and told her, ‘it’s over’.

Forensics at the defendants' flat in Aylesbury Road (Image: Daily Echo)

Pereira accepted her previous accounts of what happened had been lies, and that this version was “the truth”.

She said she was “scared” of speaking out against Atkins, and felt she “had to keep the lie going”.

But Mr Cavin KC put to Pereira that she killed Mr Shotton with Atkins, and said they had tried to “get rid of his body parts together”.

• Read more: Bournemouth 'body parts' murder trial: Day 11 recap

He presented CCTV footage of the couple walking “arm in arm” to Cash Creators in Boscombe, and “smiling” in the store just hours after Mr Shotton’s killing.

Mr Cavin KC said: “You were together from start to finish, and you were together throughout, weren't you?"

Pereira denied this, and told the jury: “I didn’t kill him.”

Simon Shotton (Image: Dorset Police)

The defendant was also asked whether she’d smelt or seen any of the “putrid” bonfires that neighbours had recalled Atkins having in their back garden last summer.

She said she did not, noting she always had all of her windows and curtains closed.

She also said she had not asked Atkins about the killing or who was at fault because she “did not want to know”.

Mr Cavin KC asked her: “You didn't want to know if Benny was a cold blooded killer?"

She said no, and added: “I was scared what the answer would be."

Pereira, 39, denies perverting the course of justice, preventing the burial of a corpse, and murder.

Atkins, 49, has admitted to charges of perverting the course of justice, and preventing the burial of a corpse, but denies murder.

The trial continues.