Dudley Man Sentenced Of Murdering Teen

17 January 2018, 14:30 | Updated: 17 January 2018, 15:55

Ashley Foster, 24, killed 17-year-old, Megan Bills during a violent sex act.

He hid her body in a wardrobe wrapped in clingfilm in his hostel room in Brierley Hill.

Neighbours found Megan's body three weeks later after noticing an unpleasant smell coming from the room. 

A jury found him guilty of murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court. 

He was sentenced to life in prison but must serve a minimum if 26 years.

Foster asked his sister to buy him the clingfilm that she thought was for wrapping cannabis. 

Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield, from West Midlands Police, 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. 
  
"But 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, our interrogation of Foster’s mobile phones revealed searches for violent sexual activity and a previous girlfriend of Foster gave evidence that during their relationship he had asked to strangle her during sex. 
  
"We also recovered Megan’s clothing, disposed of by Foster in a bin, together with a torn shirt which was stained with Megan’s blood." 

In a statement issued by West Midlands Police, Megan's parents, Martin and Dawn, said: "2017 was meant to be such a special year for us as a family, not only celebrating 10 years since Megan's adoption hearing but also Megan's 18th birthday, which we had planned to celebrate with both family and friends.

"This would also have seen us as a family taking her to swim with dolphins, something she had wanted to do for a while.

"After a turbulent period, Megan had decided to, and was in the process, of returning home to live with the family.

"To have lost Megan is hard enough, but to try and understand the impact, when coupled with the fact that her body was concealed until it had rotted beyond recognition is clearly painful beyond words, and demonstrates an evil cruelty beyond any decent comprehension.

"The ongoing trauma we are living with is due in part to being denied the closure obtained from being able to see and hold Megan after she had died.

"Mentally and physically we are all changed people. We will have to deal with the impact of Megan's death forever and it will affect the rest of our lives."

The trial was told that Megan found happiness after being adopted at the age of seven and had loved swimming, played the flute in the school orchestra, and enjoyed singing in a church choir.

But she became independent "in what seemed like the blink of an eye" and later left home to live with a boyfriend.

Commenting on the case, Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield said: "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, our interrogation of Foster's mobile phones revealed searches for violent sexual activity and a previous girlfriend of Foster gave evidence that during their relationship he had asked to strangle her during sex.

"We also recovered Megan's clothing, disposed of by Foster in a bin, together with a torn shirt which was stained with Megan's blood."

Ms Corfield added: "This is a terribly tragic death of a teenager with her whole life in front of her.

"Despite Megan's apparent independence she was a vulnerable young lady who would never have imagined the dangerous lair she was walking into when she entered Foster's room.

"I am pleased the jury saw through his thin fabric of lies and found him guilty of murder and I can only hope this gives her family some sense of justice."