Jurors re-trace final steps made by teenager Louise Smith, 16, before she was ‘cruelly and brutally’ murdered in woods by her ‘predator’ uncle in ‘sexually motivated’ killing
- Jurors re-traced the final steps made by teenager Louise Smith before she died
- Taken into the woodland and shown the secluded spot where she was ‘lured to’
- Louise was allegedly murdered by Shane Mays, 30, in ‘sexually motivated’ killing
Jurors today re-traced the final steps made by teenager Louise Smith before she was allegedly ‘cruelly and brutally’ murdered by her uncle.
Shane Mays, 30, is on trial accused of killing the 16-year-old, whose fire-damaged body was found ‘defiled and burned’ 13 days after she went missing.
She had suffered multiple blows to her head, causing her facial bone structure to collapse.
The 12 men and women trying the case were taken to Havant Thicket, Hampshire, and shown the secluded spot Mays is said to have ‘lured’ the teenager to before carrying out the ‘sexually motivated’ killing.
They were also taken to see the location of the flat where 30-year-old Mays lived with his wife, Chazlynn Jayne Mays, known as CJ Mays, who is the cousin of Louise’s mother as well as the victim’s aunt.
Louise vanished in Havant, Hampshire, at 12.49pm on May 8, sparking a huge two-week search for her
Yellow tape representing a fallen tree trunk and an orange flag marking the spot in woodland at Havant Thicket in Hampshire, where police found the body of Louise Smith, 16.
Shane Mays, 30, is accused of the ‘brutal’ murder of the 16-year-old whose fire-damaged body was found in thick woodland two weeks after she went missing
Police officers at the area of woodland in Havant, Hampshire, during their investigation in May
Photographs taken today reveal the scene in Havant Thicket for the first time.
The aspiring veterinary nurse vanished in Havant at 12.49pm on May 8, sparking a huge hunt until she was found by police on May 21 following an extensive search of the Thicket.
The college student had started living with Mays and his wife CJ a few weeks before she disappeared and the court was told Mays ‘flirted’ with her.
Today jurors were taken from Winchester Crown Court and led by police into Havant Thicket to view the spot where her ‘severely decomposed’ body was found.
They were also shown various sites in the Leigh Park area of Havant, including the shopping precinct Louise and Mays visited the night before her death and a number of roads where Mays was captured on CCTV walking back from the Thicket.
Mays denies murder but admits manslaughter, claiming he ‘lost his temper’ and killed Louise by beating her after an argument. He denies defiling the teen and torching her body.
The markers were placed at the scene on Monday, to aid a visit by the jury in the trial of Shane Mays, 30, of Havant, Hampshire, who is on trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with the murder of the 16-year-old who disappeared on VE Day
Louise Smith’s uncle Shane Mays, 30, (right with his wife, Chazlynn Jayne Mays ) is accused of the ‘brutal’ murder of the teenager
Prosecutor James Newton-Price QC has told the court: ‘The burned and decomposed state of Louise’s body was such that we cannot say exactly which of her multiple injuries caused her death.
‘But it is clear her killer lured or persuaded her to walk to a remote location where he attacked her.
‘We say you can conclude this was an act of unimaginable cruelty towards a vulnerable 16-year-old girl.
‘The shattering of the bones and the structure of her face indicates multiple blows to her head.
‘There is background evidence that Louise was unhappy in the care of Mays and his wife and that she, an adolescent, was drinking heavily in their flat on the night before she disappeared.
‘Louise Smith was just 16. She was anxious, needy, mentally fragile and vulnerable to attentions of a predatory man who was apparently flirting with her and living in the same small flat.’
The trial continues.