Steven Dunks found guilty of the murder of Lynne Howarth

Steven Dunks

Steven Dunks, who battered his former partner, Lynne Howarth, to death in a jealous rage at her Heywood home and then sent messages pretending to be from her as her body lay undiscovered, has been jailed for life.

Dunks (born 03/06/1969), of Milnrow Road, Shaw, was found guilty of the murder of his ex-partner, Lynne Howarth, at Manchester Crown Court.

He was today (Friday 20 February 2015) sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years.

The jury heard how Dunks and Ms Howarth, 43, were involved in a volatile on-and-off relationship for about 18 months, with neighbours testifying that the pair frequently had loud and aggressive arguments.

At this time Dunks was also dating another woman, and he split his time between the two women’s properties.

In July 2014, Lynne told her neighbours that they would no longer be seeing Dunks around, as the pair had split and he was looking for somewhere else to live.

In mid-July Ms Howarth, who suffered from agoraphobia, met a new boyfriend on an internet dating site and started to go on dates, often arriving back at her flat on her new partner’s motorbike.

Her neighbours described her during this period as “really happy”.

In the early hours of Friday 18 July 2014, a drunken Dunks appeared at her flat on Boleyn Court, Heywood and confronted both Howarth and her new boyfriend, enraged that she had started a new relationship.

He threatened her new partner, screaming that he would “jump up and down on his head” and that he “would rather see her dead before seeing her with someone else”.

Those chilling words would turn out to be prophetic, as a week later Lynne Howarth was dead.

She had been out with her new partner at a rock festival in Castleton on 25 July and he dropped her back at her flat at around 11.30pm that evening.

In the early hours of 27 July, Dunks returned to her flat after spending the night drinking in the Wishing Well pub.

He launched into a prolonged and extremely violent attack against Howarth, leaving her with extensive head and facial injuries.

He attacked her with such force that her face was shattered and her jaw bone was detached from the rest of her skull.

He then rested her head on a towel and fled, taking the sim card from her phone and her bank card with him.

Over the next month Dunks spoke briefly to Ms Howarth’s new partner and mother via Facebook and text message, pretending to be her in an attempt to cover his tracks.

Mobile network data showed that between the 27 July and 27 of August, Howarth’s sim card was used in a number of different mobile phones located mainly in the Shaw area.

This was highly unusual, as Howarth’s agoraphobia meant she rarely ever left Heywood.

Dunks also used her bank cards, withdrawing cash from machines in Shaw several times over the course of August, totalling around £300.

It was not until Tuesday 26 August that Ms Howarth’s body was discovered, following complaints of a foul smell and swarms of flies on the windows of her flat.

Officers attended and found her badly decomposed body, with a blood-stained exfoliating glove that contained Dunks DNA profile inside.

When he was arrested on the 27 August, Dunks denied he had murdered Lynn stating he had left her alive in bed when he left that morning.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Eales said: “Dunks was quite happy to string along two women at the same time, but the thought of her moving on with her life and finding a new partner sent him into a terrible rage.

“He ended her life in one of the most violent ways I have seen as a detective, using enough force to cause catastrophic damage to her head and face.

“He then left her body to rot in the home they had shared, taking her sim card and cash cards with him so he could steal her money and trick her friends and family into thinking she was still alive.

“Lynn was limited by her anxiety and fear of open spaces, she did not travel far from her flat and her social life was led mainly online and through mobile phone.

“Dunks knew that, and that is why he thought to try and cover his tracks by using her Facebook account and mobile phone to contact those people who were going to be most worried about her.

“Think of what that have must have been like for her mother, thinking that she was exchanging text messages with her daughter when in reality she was communicating with the man who had brutally murdered Lynn weeks earlier.

“I hope this sentence can go some way to comforting Lynn’s family during this tremendously difficult time.” 

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/91510/woman-found-dead-in-heywood-named

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/89146/steven-dunks-has-been-charged-with-murder