Elliot Turner Guilty of Emily Longley Murder

A violent and obsessed boyfriend was found guilty today of murdering his aspiring model girlfriend in a jealous rage.

Wealthy jeweller's son Elliot Turner, 20, strangled 17-year-old Emily Longley in his bed after going ''absolutely nuts'' in a culmination of a month of anger and upset over his suspicions she was ''twisting his heart'' by seeing other men.

His parents Leigh, 54, and Anita, 51, helped cover up the crime by destroying a confession letter from their son and taking away vital evidence after the killing at their home in Bournemouth in May last year.

The pair were convicted by a majority of 10 to 2 of perverting the course of justice - a charge that Elliot Turner had admitted during the four-week trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Turner mouthed the word ''****'' after the jury foreman gave the verdict following nine hours of deliberations.

There were cries from the public gallery where Emily's family were sitting.

Turner was being sentenced this afternoon.

His parents were bailed for sentence at a date to be fixed but told they were likely to face jail.

Turner was well known in the local bar and club scene in the Bournemouth and Poole areas and was part of a gang of rich young men called The Firm.

Called by his friends All-Talk Turner because of his boasting, he met Emily in December 2010.

The pair enjoyed the high-life around the resort, partying late in to the night and drinking #180 bottles of Grey Goose vodka often with other members of The Firm.

But Turner, who had a history of obsession with women, soon showed signs of jealousy and the short volatile relationship quickly descended into violent arguments with Turner threatening to kill his girlfriend on an almost daily basis.

He was described in court by the prosecution as showing himself to be ''threatening, aggressive, violent, controlling and possessive towards Emily Longley''.

Emily went back to Auckland, New Zealand, to see her parents in April and Turner was incensed by Facebook pictures of her with ex-boyfriends and other men.

She had suffered from abusive relationships back home in New Zealand and had emotional problems and was vulnerable.

When Emily returned she wanted out of the relationship and she slept with his best friend Luke Ashford after an argument triggered by Turner's obsession.

In the days before her death, Turner accessed her phone and Facebook accounts and learnt she was arranging to meet men.

He went to one club in Bournemouth and armed himself with a lump hammer to confront them when he learned she was out with another man.

He had driven there in his black Mini Cooper and was hitting the steering wheel in anger witnesses said. This was even though he admitted he had slept with three women during the relationship.

That night he didn't find Emily but he warned the other suitor, Louis Powell, that she was his girlfriend and to back off. Crying, he then told friends he had killed Emily with the hammer and dumped her in bushes before then saying it was a joke.

The day before he murdered her he asked his impressionable friend Tom Crowe how he should kill Emily as his obsession started to reach a crescendo.

They even discussed setting her on fire in his bedroom using petrol and strangling her and the pair even practised strangle holds.

On the night of May 6 Turner thought he had patched up his relationship with Emily and they were boyfriend and girlfriend again.

But she wanted out and Turner was angry when he met up with her and saw she was dressed in very short shorts, a leopard print bra and small waist coat.

He said she was dressed like a whore and he continued to argue with her in a bar called Cafe Shore.

Finally a fed up Emily threw drinks over him and he attacked her before later that night she fatally agreed to go back to his house in the affluent Queen's Park area of Bournemouth to talk things over.

This was despite Emily texting Turner to say: ''Hit me with a mallet? Do what ever you want to me - I will never get back with you. I actually hate you.''

Tom Crowe was the last person to see her alive other than her killer. He told the court that Turner asked him to kill Emily using the lump hammer but he told him to **** off.

The last thing he saw was Emily trying to lock Turner out of his own house, but the 13-stone man overpowered her and they went inside.

A neighbour had walked by and Mr Crowe presciently told him he thought Turner would kill Emily.

The prosecution said that Turner used a pillow to smother Emily and then he strangled her using a sleeper hold.

Forensics found the teenager's ''face mask'' of make up on the pillow and Emily's make up was also on Turner's shirt.

But Turner stuck to the story he told police and paramedics when they were called to the house on the morning of May 8 that Emily had repeatedly attacked him and he defended himself.

In the witness box, Turner said that he grabbed Emily by the neck for five or six seconds and then pressed down on her as she lay on the bed to stop the attack.

He then stormed out of the bedroom and came back, got in to bed and woke up to find her dead.

He said he had loved her and she had loved him and had only wanted the best for her and he denied murdering her.

When arrested at the scene he had his passport in his pocket and his bags packed, the court heard.

Police were suspicious from the start because of Turner's threats to Emily but there was no conclusive cause of death except for tell-tale haemorrhages under her eyelids that were consistent with neck compression.

Detectives decided to bug the family's £350,000 home and discovered that his doting parents had helped cover up their son's crime.

Highly incriminating tapes played to the jury told how Leigh Turner had destroyed his son's ''confession''.

During one discussion when Anita Turner refused to believe her son had done anything wrong, an exasperated Leigh Turner said ''He (Elliot) f****** strangled her''.

Turner himself was heard to say: ''I just flipped. I went absolutely nuts...I just lost it. I grabbed her as hard as I could. I pushed her like that.''

He was heard calling Emily a ''******* b****'' and talking about the ''******* anger'' that had built up in him over her.

Leigh Turner said: ''We have perverted the course of justice by destroying evidence.''

But Anita Turner was heard to say they had been right to do it.

They also discussed changing Anita's story about the delay in calling the ambulance. Anita had called Leigh first and there had been an hour delay in calling paramedics while calls went to and fro between the family.

Anita admitted that she took a jacket from Elliot Turner's bedroom but that she didn't think it was wrong. The prosecution said police were distracted by her husband and the confession letter was in the coat.

Police also examined Turner's computer and found searches about death by strangulation.

Emily had been born in Britain but her family had emigrated when she was nine. She had returned to live with her grandparents Ronald and Zosia Longley in a large detached cottage near the seafront in Southbourne, near Bournemouth, to study for a business national diploma at Brockenhurst College in the New Forest. She also worked part-time at Top Shop in Bournemouth.

Her divorced parents Mark and Caroline flew over from New Zealand and attended court every day to find out what happened to their daughter.

Elliot Turner fancied himself as some form of celebrity in the bars and clubs in the affluent areas of Bournemouth and Poole.

Dubbed ''All-Talk Turner'' by his friends and described as full of gangster bull**** bravado by his own father, Turner led the life of a supposed playboy with money, girls and drink around the clock while boasting of the cash he had.

But the flash lifestyle hid an immature, manipulative, jealous and violent young man who could not handle rejection - especially from women and, in particular, from Emily Longley.

Turner ran with a crowd of other young men - many of them from wealthy families - who called themselves The Firm.

They spent time drinking £180 bottles of Grey Goose vodka around the millionaires' enclave of Sandbanks or the wealthy area of Canford Cliffs.

Turner was often spotted pulling up in his black Mini Cooper and told anyone who would listen that he had had affairs with reality TV stars and even spent time in the Priory clinic to kick a cocaine habit.

Women were only referred to as birds or in Emily's case, as the volatile relationship hit the rocks, b**** or much worse.

But many of his friends knew that Turner was a boaster and those who gave evidence in his trial all said they never took a word of what he said seriously - including his boast that he had killed Emily with a mallet a few days before he actually strangled her.

Elliot Turner was the son of a wealthy jeweller and he worked part-time for him at the shop the family owned in Bournemouth called R E Porter.

Born in Birmingham in 1991, he moved south with his family in 2000 when they took over the shop from his grandparents.

University beckoned but he dropped out of Southampton Solent University after less than a term.

Parties and women back home were now the major part of his life.

He met Emily Longley in December 2010 and said the pair hit it off immediately and it appears the relationship worked at first, with both saying they loved each other.

But Emily was a young and vulnerable girl who had suffered from eating disorders and health and emotional problems in Auckland, New Zealand, where she had emigrated from Bournemouth with her family when she was nine.

She had returned to England eight months previously to study for a business national diploma at Brockenhurst College in Hampshire, and worked part-time at Top Shop in Bournemouth.

Very good-looking and with a bright and friendly personality, Emily attracted the attention of men and Turner was unable to handle it.

Soon after they got together, he was already showing signs of becoming obsessive and Turner had form in this department.

He had received a harassment warning letter from police in January 2008 when he was 16 telling him not to contact an ex-girlfriend after he bombarded her with texts and emails when she ended the relationship.

One friend told the trial that after a girlfriend left him, Turner said he wanted to suffocate her with a pillow.

The situation got worse when Emily returned to New Zealand to visit her divorced parents Mark and Caroline.

Turner was upset about pictures with other men she posted on Facebook and he became obsessed with the idea that his girlfriend should show him more ''respect''.

His fears multiplied when Emily was found out to be texting and seeing other men on her return to England.

Turner was now violently angry and even though he painted a picture of only looking out for Emily's best interests, the threats to kill her became almost daily.

Police found a note Emily had written to Turner when the pair were on holiday on the Isle of Man in late March which showed how Turner behaved towards her.

She wrote: ''I love you. Don't say you will kill me. Stop talking about your ex-girlfriend and stop being so constantly aggressive. Be more cool because that's so much more hot.''

He finally snapped when Emily went out dressed, in his words, like ''a w****'' on the evening of May 6.

He thought they had patched up their relationship a few days before and were boyfriend and girlfriend but Emily finally wanted out.

Fed up with his constant anger and questions, she threw drinks at him that night in the Cafe Shore bar and Turner assaulted her.

His friend Tom Crowe was the last person to see Emily alive and presciently he told one of Turner's neighbours he feared that Turner would kill her.

That night the pair rowed and Turner used a pillow to smother Emily - imprinting her make-up on the pillowcase - and then using his arms to strangle her.

His doting parents Anita and Leigh, whom Turner used for cash to fund his lavish partying, loved their son so much they tried to cover his crime.

Leigh destroyed Turner's letter confessing he had strangled her and Anita took the jacket from the bedroom where, the prosecution said, the letter was.

His mother even delayed calling an ambulance as Emily lay dead in the bed of the house in Queenswood Avenue, so that Turner could cover his tracks and allow the family to concoct a story.

But Turner had left too many clues and too many threatening text messages and told too many friends of his obsessions and violent thoughts.

The police were immediately suspicious and acted swiftly to get the evidence they needed to charge him.

The bugging of the family home that May and June was the most damning evidence as the three discussed what they would say to the police, with Elliot Turner leading the discussion and orchestrating the ''fabricating of evidence''.

It was a telling example of the arrogance of a young man who thought he could manipulate his parents, the police and his friends to get away with murder.

Elliot Turner's defence team tried to get the bugging evidence ruled inadmissible at the start of the trial but failed.

So the jury heard Leigh Turner say: ''He (Elliot) ******* strangled her.''

And Elliot Turner said: ''I ******* lost it, I grabbed her.''

All three in the witness box were forced to listen to their scheming and they had little answer to the incriminating conversations that sealed their convictions.