Megan Bills murder case: parents tell of heartache over death of tragic teen found in a clingfilm wrapped wardrobe in a Dudley hostel

Ashley Foster was yesterday (Wednesday) starting a life sentence for the murder of 17-year-old Megan, a former Ridgewood High School pupil, whose body was found rotting in a wardrobe in a Dudley hostel in Highgate Road last May – more than two weeks after she died in what prosecutors say was a violent sex attack.

Foster, aged 24, of no fixed address, admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of the teenager but denied murder.

However – the jury was unanimous in finding him guilty at the end of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday) and he was sentenced to life in prison and told he must spend a minimum of 26 years behind bars before being considered for parole.

After the case – Megan’s parents said in a statement: “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.”

The court was told Megan, who had been adopted at the age of seven, became independent in her teens and had left her adoptive family’s Stourbridge home to live with her boyfriend in a flat in Dudley.

Her family said, although she stayed in close touch, contacting her was difficult as she did not have a mobile phone - so it was only the day after her body was found that she was reported missing.

Her parents said that after a turbulent period Megan had decided to, and was in the process of, returning home to live with her family.

They added: “To have lost Megan is hard enough, but to try and understand the impact, when coupled with the facts 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.”

Judge James Burbidge said after strangling the teenager Foster had callously left her body in his room in the hostel where he was staying to go off and enjoy a family meal - something that was beyond belief.

Foster, who had been released from prison just three days earlier after serving nine-months for assaulting and threatening his sister with a knife, had then left Megan’s body to rot in the wardrobe at the New Horizons Hostel for ex-offenders in Highgate Road, which he wrapped in clingfilm.

And in the days afterwards he had scoured internet sites looking for ‘snuff’ films which involved death or simulated death during sex - with one titled "Happy Hour Strangler”.

Det Insp Caroline Corfield, of West Midlands Police’s homicide unit - who led the investigation, said: "What normal person would start searching for this kind of porn after doing what he had done? It clearly turned him on."

Foster said in a letter to his mother that he did not mean to hurt Megan and that she liked to be strangled during sex.

But the judge said he did not believe she had agreed to be strangled by Foster who, the court was told, had asked a previous partner if he could put his hands around her neck when they had sex.

He said it was clear the teenager had never shown any interest in violent sex and it was Foster who had carried out his fantasy.

She was vulnerable and homeless, said the judge - who ruled Foster's warped and dangerous fantasies had shattered the lives of the Bills family.

Dawn Bills, Megan’s adoptive mother, said they did not know she had begun mixing with people who were staying at the Dudley hostel.

She said the dynamics of the family had been shattered by the murder of Megan who was pursuing a career as a hairdresser – having enrolled at Dudley College and qualified at Halesowen College.

And the family added: “The on-going 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. This vile and tragic event has robbed us of so much. 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."

Foster showed no reaction as he was led off to start his long jail term.

His sister Carley Forrester said he had left school with no qualifications and she had struggled to get him to resolve his cannabis habit – and she added: “He is not the brightest young man and that has led to some bad decision-making.”