Torquay death case background

Jamie Stevens is jailed after hiding the death of his ex partner in a Torquay flat for years.

Hidden death in Torquay tests care and accountability

A court heard that Jamie Stevens, 51, continued to live in a Torquay flat after the death of Anouska Sites and covered her body with a blanket. He pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 14 months. Police later found Ms Sites’ skeletal remains in the living area, with the room described as cluttered and reminiscent of a hoarder’s home. Ms Sites had last been seen in May 2022 and was reported missing in April 2023; her death is not treated as suspicious and a coroner’s file will be submitted. Prosecutors noted Ms Sites’ vulnerabilities, including mental health problems and addictions, which complicated the case and reporting timeline.

The court heard that Stevens told police he had no contact with Ms Sites since early 2022 and that he believed she had left the flat when he returned to it in the evening. He claimed he found her dead on the sofa and covered her body, continuing to live in a separate part of the flat. The prosecution described the discovery as a stark reminder of how fear and inertia can allow tragedy to endure unseen for years.

This case underscores how isolation and stigma around mental health and addiction can enable a death to go unaddressed for years. It also raises questions about how communities safeguard vulnerable individuals who drift away from contact with services. The legal outcome signals a demand for accountability, but it also invites public scrutiny of how such cases slip through cracks in missing-person networks and social support systems. The sentence aims to balance empathy for a devastated former partner with the duty to deter concealment of a death, a difficult political and moral line for the public to watch closely.

Highlights

A case like this pushes society to act sooner for the vulnerable and to strengthen how we respond when someone goes missing.