That's pretty much where I am at the moment. Were I on the jury I coud confidently convict her of perverting the course of justice but would waver on anything more. Not because I dont think that she could have been involved in the murder but because I don't think there's enough to prove it, and I'm not convinced enough that a kidnap even happened to be able to convict her via joint enterprise for being part of a kidnap plan. But then I've been hesitant in (viewing) previous trials where juries have convicted.
Lack of physical evidence is a problem for me. BUT what I would argue is that we have been told NM has a medical condition which leaves him in a lot of pain, tired and is so debilitating that he has trouble even hanging out washing. We have had him in the dock, stating that this condition was causing him discomfort and pain when he was just standing/sitting in the dock. His defence hasn't done or said anything to contradict the claim that his Fibro is pretty severe.
So we are then left to believe that despite the above, NM could fight with and overpower a fit and healthy 16 year old, roughly his own height. He could murder her, by smothering her (though he says strangling) and apparently didn't sustain any injuries to himself. He could then carry a 9 stone body down the stairs, lift it into his car and return to the living showing no signs whatsoever of this exertion (even though just standing in the dock was causing him pain).
He was able to inflict 40 separate injuries to Becky, yet didn't break out in a sweat.
Despite that exertion, we are to believe he later carried her body out of his car ....... a 9 stone weight being lifted out of a car boot remember - I struggle to lift a bag of shopping out of my boot. He then was able to carry it upstairs and over a period of days, use a (heavy?) electric saw to dismember it.
He used that saw with just the one hand remember, so he must have been pretty strong to do that - even though he struggles to hang out washing. He struggles using 2 hands to operate a peg and a piece of laundry but can use an electric saw, with just the one arm/hand and use it with perfect precision.
After that, he was still well enough to carry out a sustained cleaning operation to remove all traces of DNA, blood and so on.
That, for me, would have to be the proof that SH was involved ...... even if, as I do suspect, he might have always lied about the extent of his Fibro for reasons of benefits or similar.
However we have been told by his defence that his story was the truth and that he is a person of previous good character and his account of what happened should be believed. Therefore if his defence want me to believe his everyday living was hampered by such a severe case of Fibro that he struggled to lift a single item of laundry to hang on a washing line, then I would have to believe he couldn't have done the crime all by himself.
