A man who loves to have violent sexual encounters killed a teenager by choking her to death while having sex with her at a hostel, according to police in the United Kingdom.
A jury at the Wolverhampton Crown Court found the Dudley man guilty of murdering a young woman during the violent sex act.
17-year-old Megan Bills has strangled by 24-year-old Ashley Foster at the hostel on Highgate Road.
Foster was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve at least 26 years before he can be considered for parole.
Bills’ body was found wrapped in cling-film inside a closet three weeks after the murder after residents noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the room.
Foster had claimed the smell came from the carpet, but when hostel staff investigated the smell, the grim discovery was made.
Foster, who had only recently been released from prison, first gave police a false name and denied any knowledge of Bills’ death but surveillance video showed the couple coming and going from the hostel.
The video showed the couple entering his room but only Foster came out.
The court was told that Foster and Bills had sex in his room, and during the encounter, he deliberately choked her to death because violence turned him on.
Foster then asked his sister to purchase cling-film for him.
She believed that he wanted it to wrap drugs.
Foster’s sister later learned that her brother used the cling-film to conceal Megan’s body.
He placed a fan behind the closet and pointed it towards a window to get rid of the smell.
Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield from the police homicide unit said: “Because of the advanced state of decomposition, a post-mortem examination was unable to determine the cause of Megan’s death, so at that time, we were only able to charge Foster with prevention of a lawful burial, for which he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
“Our investigation recovered letters written by Foster to his family, admitting he had strangled Megan during sex and claiming this was at her request.
“Furthermore, a search of Foster’s cell phones revealed searches for violent sexual activity, and a previous girlfriend of Foster gave evidence that during their relationship, he had asked to choke her during sex.
“We also recovered Megan’s clothing, which was disposed of by Foster in a garbage bin, together with a torn shirt, which was stained with Megan’s blood.”
Megan had a difficult childhood and was placed into foster care at the age of four but she finally found happiness with adoptive parents in Stourbridge when she was seven.
In her teens, she became very independent and left the family home.
Although she stayed in close touch with her parents, without a cell phone of her own, contacting her was difficult, so sadly, Megan was only reported missing the day after her body had been found.