A 17-year-old boy obsessed with the TV serial killer Dexter has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years for murdering and dismembering his girlfriend, Elizabeth Thomas. The crime took place at his family home in Oxted, Surrey, on 24 January.
Guildford Crown Court heard that Steven Miles stabbed the 17-year-old to death before using saws from his father's tree surgery business to cut up her body. He then wrapped the limbs in bin bags. When his sister returned home, he told her, 'Ed made me do something bad.'
Miles, who admitted murder, told his family that a voice in his head named Ed instructed him to kill. Psychiatric experts told the court that 'Ed' was likely a manifestation of anxiety, not schizophrenia. Miles was found to have narcissistic personality traits and signs of being on the autism spectrum.
The court was told Miles had a fixation with Dexter, a TV series about a police forensics officer who is a serial killer. Prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Miles' parents had sought help for him after he began self-harming in 2012, but he was discharged from mental health services in 2013 after showing progress.
Judge Christopher Critchlow described the case as one of 'utmost gravity' with 'horrific features rarely heard in any court'. Elizabeth's family remembered her as a 'kind, caring, loving and gentle girl' who was studying for her A-Levels at Oxted School.
