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Simon Everitt's killers found guilty in Severance re-enactment

by Amy Judd | May 29, 2009 at 03:55 pm

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Simon Everitt was only 17 when three people tied him to a tree, poured gas down his throat, and set him on fire, all in a re-enactment of a horrr movie scene from 'Severance'. Today, the three people responsible were found guilty and awaiting sentencing.

Maria Chandler, 40, Jimi-Lee Stewart, 25, and Jonathan Clarke, 20, all killed Simon, and it was only because Stewart confessed to his stepmum and then she turned him in, that all three were even caught.

Simon's body was found June 28, 2008, about three weeks after he had gone missing.

Prosecutor Karim Khalil QC said the case was a demonstration of "grotesque brutality".

Jonathan Clarke, Jimi-Lee Stewart and Simon Everitt had all been involved with a woman called Fiona Statham, 19, and it was while Simon and Fiona were together that Ms. Chandler fell out with the young man. She was a close friend of Fiona's. It was after this that Chandler, Stewart and Clarke all threatened to harm Simon, and Clarke even assaulted him shortly before the murder.

Mr Khalil, outlining the case, said: "He was initially assaulted. He was bundled into a car, taken to a forest or wooded area. He was then tied to a tree with blue nylon roping.

"Petrol was poured on to him and into his throat. He was then set on fire whilst tied to that tree.

"The rope burned through. He was still alive. He stepped from the tree a short distance, still alight, and there he was to die."

It was Clarke who had watched the horror film about a year before Simon's death. He apparently made the comment while watching it that 'wouldn't it be great to do that to someone in real life?'.

Simon's stepmum, said all the killers were evil and that Simon didn't deserve what happened to him. He just fell in love with the wrong girl.

In a statement outside court, she paid tribute to a "loving son and brother", adding: "He loved life and lived it to the full, never wanting to waste a minute. He had so many aspirations, we would often wonder what he would choose.

"His death is horrific and should not happen to anyone let alone a young, energetic man with everything to live for."