Chilling police footage of the moment a man calmly admits to murdering his 74-year-old live-in landlady has caused widespread horror after the case became the subject of a new TV documentary.
Scott Paterson had lived as a tenant in Annette Smith’s home in the UK town of Fairfield, Bedfordshire for more than a decade before he brutally took her life on the night of November 8, 2023.
The 45-year-old said he “snapped” after he became tired of caring for her while she recovered from a stroke.
After suffocating the elderly woman as she slept and taking great lengths to cover up his crime, Paterson dismembered her body before hiding parts of her remains at a storage unit and distributing the rest among public bins in the city.
Now the “shocking” confession he gave police after his elaborate cover-up was exposed has been televised in a new episode of 24 Hours in Police Custody called ‘The Butcher Of Suburbia’.
The popular British show, which has been running since 2014 and is aired on 7+ in Australia, highlights the challenges faced by police officers at Luton Police Station, a cop shop about 34 miles outside of Central London.
While episodes over the years have covered all sorts of crimes and investigations, its most recent is particularly grisly, prompting an almost visceral reaction from viewers on social media.
In the footage, filmed inside an interrogation room at the station, Paterson recounts the gruesome details of his crime in such a calm fashion it leaves the police visibly dumbstruck and sent shivers down viewers’ spines.
After telling police he killed his elderly roommate – who friends described as a generous soul that took Paterson in out of the goodness of her heart – officers quizzed him on where her body was.
“Where’s Annette,” a female officer asked, to which he coldly replies, “there isn’t a full body”.
“I did keep her in the house for quite some time, but as time went by, I realized she couldn’t stay in the house.
“I wasn’t sure what to do, so I did dismember her.”
Initially he hid her remains under the stairs, before moving them to a storage unit about 3 miles from their home.
Paterson, who is wearing a blue checkered shirt and a black baseball cap during the interview, then proceeds to explain in precise detail how he went about the horrific task – with much of the admission too shocking to publish.
“It was a gradual process, I couldn’t face doing something like that in one go,” the murderer explained, before stating he first chopped up Smith’s feet with a saw and a knife.
“I work in a butchers, so I see how they deal with things like that, but I obviously watch quite a lot of horror films and stuff so it has probably stemmed from there as well.”
Paterson, who was employed at a local farm shop at the time of the murder, had also done a butchery course, according to the BBC.
It took him “a few weeks” to completely dismember her body, placing Smith into an array of plastic bags, admitting he was physically sick during the lengthy process.
After, he “discarded” the 10 different pieces of Smith’s body “gradually” in bins around the city – including several outside supermarkets.
In order to cover his tracks, Paterson hacked into his landlady’s email account and sent Christmas cards and emails to her friends and family, pretending she was still alive.
The deception lasted for months, but eventually relatives grew suspicious because of “multiple kisses at the end of the email” that “did not ring true, and alerted local police.
At first, Paterson falsely claimed Smith had left the house voluntarily with an unknown woman, but investigators found her passport, clothing, mobile phone and laptop still at the home, and noted there had been no activity on her bank account.
Detectives also found CCTV footage and records proving Paterson also stole the old lady’s jewelry and other belongings, which he sold for more than $6,749, The Sun reported.
After discovering Paterson had debts of over $40,497, police arrested him on April 30, 2024, and he quickly confessed to the murder.
During sentencing, Luton Crown Court court heard Smith and Paterson had become friends and she had invited him to lodge in her spare room rent-free, in exchange for company and running errands.
They had also gone on holiday together, the BBC reported.
After she had a stroke, her mobility was affected and the dynamic of their friendship changed, with Paterson becoming her carer who would collect medicine and wash her.
Judge Justice Murray described Paterson’s actions as “awful” and “callous” during sentencing in November last year.
He was given life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years before he is eligible for parole.
The gruesome crime recently became the subject of a TV documentary, where Paterson’s actions left viewers horrified.
“So scary the people we walk this world alongside,” one commented on social media.
“He’s so calm it’s disturbing,” remarked another.
As one declared: “OMG. This is horrific. Poor Annette.”
