Man Pleads Guilty to Murder After Allegedly Cutting His Wife into More Than 200 Pieces: An 'Evil Monster'

Nicholas Metson, 28, said he paid another man to dispose of her body

After denying that he killed his wife for almost a year, a man from Lincoln, England, has now pleaded guilty to her murder.

The man, 28-year-old Nicholas Metson, originally denied murdering wife Holly Metson (née Bramley) when her body was found in the village of Bassingham in 2023, according to Lincolnshire Police.

Then, at a February hearing, he pleaded guilty to the charge.

At the same hearing, a second man, 28-year-old Joshua Hancock, pleaded guilty to disposal of a corpse with intent to obstruct or prevent a coroner’s inquest.

During the hearing, Metson said that after killing Bramley, he kept her remains — which had been cut into over 200 pieces — in the couple’s flat for about a week before paying Hancock to dispose of her body, the BBC reported.

Following Bramley’s murder, records show that Metson took money out of her bank account and conducted online searches, including “What benefits do I get if my wife has died” and "Can someone haunt me after they die,” the BBC reported.

According to the outlet, Metson and Bramley were close to separating when the murder occurred, and Metson never gave a reason for killing his wife.

During an April 5 sentencing hearing for both Metson and Hancock, Bramley’s family read victim impact statements, alleging that prior to her murder, the 26-year-old experienced “coercive control and manipulation” at the hands of Metson, whom they dubbed an “evil monster.”

Her family also said that the pair’s marriage had “broken down irretrievably” since their 2021 nuptials, the BBC reported.

Bramley’s body was first discovered in the River Witham in March 2023, when someone walking by the scene noticed plastic bags floating in the water, including one containing a human hand, per the BBC. Officials later recovered 224 remains of the body, but some were never recovered, the outlet said.

Prior to the discovery, authorities had been called to the couple’s flat out of concern for Bramley’s welfare. Upon arrival, officers noticed the scent of ammonia and bleach, as well as bloodstains in the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, the BBC reported. The stains were later revealed to be Bramley’s blood.

When officers arrived at the flat, Metson told them Bramley said she had left home with a mental health support group and joked that she may be “hiding under the bed,” per the BBC. She was last seen alive in CCTV footage on March 17, 2023.

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Metson — who has convictions for previous offenses against partners in 2013, 2016 and 2017 — also told police that Bramley had abused him, showing officers a bite mark on his arm, per the BBC.

In court on April 5, Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC stated that the mark "suggests she was being restrained in a headlock.”

According to Aspden, Metson likely stabbed his wife multiple times in the bedroom, dismembered her in the bathroom and stored her body in the kitchen larder, per BBC.

During the same proceeding, Bramley’s mother, Annette Bramley, told Metson he had condemned the family “to a life sentence of grief,” per the BBC.

"The heinous way in which she was murdered and dismembered has left us in such unimaginable pain," she added.

Metson and Hancock will now be sentenced on April 8, Lincolnshire Police told PEOPLE in a statement.

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