Emily Longley Murder: Parents Of Elliot Turner Jailed For Disposing Of Evidence

Parents Jailed For Covering Up Son's Murder

A wealthy jeweller and his wife who disposed of evidence to help cover up after their jealous son murdered his girlfriend have been jailed for 27 months each.

Elliot Turner, 20, was found guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court in May of murdering 17-year-old Emily Longley in his bed after going "absolutely nuts" in a jealous rage.

Sentencing him, Mrs Justice Dobbs said he had "bullied, harassed, threatened and assaulted" Emily to control her as his "trophy" girlfriend.

Emily Longley was killed in a jealous rage after Elliot thought she was seeing other men

And she told him to put away thoughts of "champagne, Bentleys and girls" as she sentenced him to life imprisonment and told him he would serve at least 16 years in jail.

His parents Leigh, 54, and Anita, 51, were sentenced today at the same court after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

The court heard that Mr Turner destroyed the confession letter written by his son with the knowledge and agreement of his wife.

Mrs Turner also removed a jacket from the crime scene as she feared it would have implicated Elliot.

Robert Grey, defending Mr Turner, said he had acted when his "mind was in turmoil" at discovering what his son had done.

Their actions were uncovered when police bugged their house and recorded conversations where they discussed whether they had done the right thing.

Their son was also sentenced to nine months, to run concurrently, for perverting the course of justice.

Elliot Turner was told to put away thoughts of "champagne, Bentleys and girls" as he was sentenced

The trial heard that the killing was the culmination of a month of anger and upset over Elliot's suspicions that Emily was "twisting his heart" by seeing other men.

He claimed in court that he acted in self-defence when Emily attacked him and he grabbed her by the throat for five or six seconds and then woke up to find her dead in his bed.

The prosecution said Turner used a pillow to smother Emily and then strangled her after she went back to his house to talk things over following a violent argument that night.

Emily's father, Mark Longley, called Elliot Turner "evil" and said he hoped he would suffer every day in prison.

Miss Turner had come over to the UK from New Zealand to study at college eight months before her murder.

Sentencing the couple, Mrs Justice Dobbs said: "I appreciate it must be very difficult for a parent when faced with the situation you found yourself in but you well knew what you did was wrong and against the law.

"You gave no thought to the consequences for your youngest son and now he is going to be without his parents for an important part of his development."

Speaking of Elliot's younger brother, Mrs Justice Dobbs added: "He has had to live with the knowledge that his brother was convicted of murder and, if that was not enough, his parents have been convicted of a serious offence and that must be a heavy burden to bear and he has lost his friends because of this."

Speaking of Mr Turner, she added: "You have expressed remorse for Emily's death but for your own actions you have shown precious little."

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