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A man was convicted of the “brutal” murder of 16-year-old Louise Smith in a forest.
Shane Mays was convicted in Winchester Crown Court of the homicide in Havant, Hampshire, on May 8.
The 30-year-old “predator” is believed to have lured the teenager to an isolated, wooded location on VE Day, with the aim of sexually assaulting her.
Louise Smith was last seen alive on May 8
He repeatedly hit her in the face, causing fatal injuries and desecrated her with a stick before burning her body, which was found 13 days later after an important police search.
James Newton-Price QC, prosecutor, said at the Winchester Crown Court trial: “A determined attempt had been made to destroy his body, which was so burned and damaged by fire that it was unrecognizable.
“His body had been subjected to extreme violence and rape, including repeated heavy blows to the head.”
The defendant showed no emotion when the unanimous verdict was announced and shouts of “Yes” were heard from the public rostrum.
The “vulnerable” student had moved in with the defendant and his wife, Chazlynn Jayne (CJ) Mays, the victim’s aunt, in late April after she had “quarreled” with her mother.
At first, living in the defendant’s one-bedroom apartment worked well.
However, Ms. Smith told her boyfriend Bradley Kercher that Mays was sexually inappropriate with her and that he would flirt with her. The jury was shown a Snapchat video of him tickling her feet.
A few days after Louise moved in with the Mays, discussions began to emerge about the housework and the teenager who wanted to smoke cannabis.
Newton-Price said: “Louise was only 16 years old, she was anxious, needy, fragile and vulnerable, vulnerable to the attentions of a predatory man who was apparently flirting with her and living in the same small apartment.”
The prosecution said Mays had likely lured Ms. Smith on the walk that ended in her death with the promise of cannabis, with the ultimate goal of sexually assaulting her.
Mays told the court that he hit Louise “many” times in the face and that he had heard her bones “break” after losing patience.
He said, “I kept going, I lost control of myself. She made a moaning sound, that’s when I stopped.”
The court heard that a clinical review of the defendant found that he had an “extremely low” IQ of 63, putting him in the bottom percentile of people.
