The True Story of Kelly Bates: A Case That Can’t Be Forgotten

The Illusion of Respectability

In 1980s Manchester, James Smith looked like the kind of man who had his life together. Middle-aged, well-groomed, and with an almost obsessive dedication to keeping his home spotless, he stood out—especially among his peers who were more inclined to enjoy a pint (or several). James didn’t drink. He didn’t smoke. On paper, he seemed like the kind of guy mothers would approve of.

But James Smith was a walking façade. Beneath the polished surface was a man who thrived on control, cruelty, and violence. Everywhere he went, destruction followed—relationships ruined, lives shattered, and a pattern of abuse that grew worse with every new victim.

A Marriage Built on Fear

By 1980, James Smith’s marriage was falling apart—not because of infidelity or drifting apart, but because he had turned into a nightmare of a husband. On their wedding day, he had played the role of the doting partner, but over the next decade, the mask slipped. What started as charm and affection eroded into routine violence, until his wife was living in constant fear. The abuse wasn’t occasional. It was daily. And by the time she had the chance to leave, the damage—physical and emotional—had already been done.

The divorce gave James something he hadn’t had in years: freedom. But he didn’t use it to better himself. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to trade up. He was done with women his own age. He wanted someone younger. Prettier. Easier to control.

The Next Victim: Tina Watson

Enter 20-year-old Tina Watson. She checked all the boxes for James—young, impressionable, and willing to believe he was the charming, respectable man he pretended to be. But it didn’t take long for reality to set in.

“At first, it was now and again; just a little tap,” Tina would later say. “But in the end, it was every day. He would smack me in the face or hit me over the head with an ashtray. He would kick me in the legs or between the legs.”

The abuse escalated, as it always did with James. And one day, while Tina was in the bath, he took things further than ever before. He crept up behind her, grabbed her, and shoved her head under the water.

Tina wasn’t just fighting for her own life—she was fighting for the life of the unborn child growing inside her. A child fathered by James.

Escaping James Smith... For Now

Tina Watson had endured months of relentless abuse—punches, kicks, and the kind of violence that made no exception for the fact that she was carrying James’ child. But when he shoved her head underwater, something shifted. There was no illusion of control, no hope of things getting better. This wasn’t just another beating. This was an attempt to kill her.

That moment was enough. Tina fought her way out of the bath, out of the apartment, and out of James’ life for good.

But James wasn’t the type to reflect or change. As soon as one victim escaped, he simply found another.

From Tina to Wendy: A Pattern of Abuse

Tina was 20 years old, but James had already decided that younger was better—easier to manipulate, easier to control. So when he set his sights on his next victim, he went even younger.

Fifteen-year-old Wendy Mottershead.

There’s a world of difference between 15 and 20, both legally and morally, but to James, it didn’t matter. He treated Wendy the same way he treated all the women in his life: the charm at first, the slow introduction of violence, the gradual increase in control. The occasional slap turned into daily beatings. And then, one day, he shoved her head under the kitchen sink and tried to drown her.

Wendy got away. But James wasn’t done.

A Predator Targets His Youngest Victim

By 1993, James had decided that even 15 was too old. His next target was 14-year-old Kelly Bates.

Kelly was still in school, still living with her parents—a level of protection that made things harder for James, at least in the beginning. Her days were structured. Her parents expected her home. If she showed up with unexplained bruises, they would have questions.

So James played the long game.

For two years, he kept his hands off Kelly. Not because he wasn’t violent—he was—but because he was smart enough to know that he needed her to trust him first. He convinced her to keep their relationship a secret, manipulated her into sneaking out, into lying about where she was. By the time she was 17, she was ready to move in with him.

James was 49.

Kelly’s parents didn’t even know his real age. She had introduced them to James over the phone, never in person, and against their better judgment, they reluctantly agreed to let her move out—under one condition. Regular contact.

The First and Only Meeting

It was only after Kelly had been living with James for a while that her mother, Margaret, met him by chance.

“Kelly brought him home when I was out,” Margaret later said. “As I walked in, he swaggered down the stairs, and it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. He was much older than I expected and looked a bit like John Denver. But he was smarmy. He said, ‘Nice to meet you at last,’ and all I could think of was how I wanted to get rid of him.”

Margaret had never met this man before, but she knew—instantly—that he was dangerous. She even admitted to having a brief, violent thought in that moment:

“I vividly recall seeing our bread knife in the kitchen and wanting to pick it up and stab him in the back. I’ve thought about that many times.”

But she didn’t. Instead, she and her husband did what they could. They tried to reason with Kelly, to tell her that she deserved better. But James had already done the damage. He had spent years grooming her, making her believe that she needed him, that she was lucky to have him.

They couldn’t push too hard. If they did, they risked pushing her right back into his arms.

A Brief Escape—But Not for Long

Despite James’ control, Kelly’s parents made one thing clear: She always had a home to come back to.

At one point, she took them up on that offer.

James had finally shown her what he was capable of. The abuse turned physical, and for a brief moment, Kelly saw a way out. She left him and moved back in with her parents.

But James wasn’t about to let her go.

He was unemployed, which meant he had nothing but time. He stalked her. Harassed her. Wore her down until, eventually, she agreed to move back in with him.

This time, he tightened his grip.

He forced her to quit her job. He stopped letting her leave the house. He rarely allowed her to call her parents. And when Kelly’s family received birthday and anniversary cards from her, they immediately noticed something strange: the handwriting inside was James’.

Kelly hadn’t written a word.

A Life Cut Off From the World

They started asking around, trying to find out if anyone had seen their daughter.

A concerned neighbor pressed James for proof that Kelly was okay. Reluctantly, he allowed Kelly to stand in front of an upstairs window for a few seconds before yanking her away. That was supposed to be enough to silence any questions.

But it wasn’t.

Kelly’s older brother went to the house next, demanding to see his sister. James lied, saying she wasn’t home. The brother started asking around and eventually got word that Kelly had been seen in the neighborhood. Relieved, he assumed she was okay and left.

It wasn’t until later that the family realized something horrifying—the sighting of Kelly their friend had reported? It had happened months earlier.

By the time her brother had shown up at the door, Kelly had already been mutilated beyond recognition.

The Truth Finally Comes to Light

James Smith finally picked up the phone and called the police. He told them there had been an accident. That Kelly had drowned in the bath.

But anyone familiar with James knew better.

When authorities arrived at the house, they stepped into a nightmare. Bloodstains. Restraints. Evidence of prolonged torture. And in the bedroom, Kelly’s body.

She had suffered over 150 separate injuries.

Scalded with boiling water. Burned with an iron. Stabbed with knives, forks, scissors—whatever James could get his hands on. Her ears, nose, mouth, lips, and genitals had been mutilated. Her hair had been ripped out in chunks, likely when he tied her to the radiator by her scalp.

And she was missing her eyes.

This wasn’t a crime of passion. This wasn’t someone “losing control.” This was deliberate. Calculated. Prolonged.

The pathologist who examined Kelly’s body, William Lawler, later said, “In my career, I have examined almost 600 victims of homicide, but I have never come across injuries so extensive.”

The autopsy also revealed that Kelly had been starved, losing nearly 45lbs in her final months. In the last week of her life, she had been given nothing to drink.

A Trial That Needed No Debate

The prosecution didn’t mince words.

“The injuries were not the result of one sudden eruption of violence,” they argued. “They must have been caused over a long period and were so extensive and so terrible that the defendant must have deliberately and systematically tortured the girl.”

James, of course, refused to take responsibility. He blamed Kelly. Said she had “wound him up.” Claimed she taunted him about his dead mother and dared him to be more violent, as if any sane person would believe that a 17-year-old girl would invite this level of brutality.

His excuses didn’t hold up.

It took the jury less than an hour to find him guilty.

“You are an abuser of women,” Judge Justice Sachs told James as he sentenced him to life in prison. “And I intend, so far as it is in my power, that you will abuse no more.”

The jury was so disturbed by the evidence they were offered counseling after the trial.

A Mother’s Unforgiving Grief

Years later, Kelly’s mother still lives with the what-ifs. The moment she met James and felt the instinctive, stomach-churning dread. The bread knife in her kitchen. The thought she had, if only for a moment.

“I want him to die just like Kelly did,” she told reporters. “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I wish I’d killed him the first time I saw him. That way, Kelly would still be alive.”