Holly Sanchez’s body was found in a property in Oates Walk, Crawley, on the morning of May 13, 2023, following a 999 call from Ryan Evans, in which he claimed she had been alive when he went to sleep and woke to find her unresponsive.
To escape responsibility for what he had done and smear his victim, the 31-year-old falsely claimed in the call that she had taken prescription drugs, had fallen over in town and then been attacked by strangers.
Ms Sanchez, 32, had previously told police she was scared her partner Evans would kill her if he found out she revealed to officers the abuse she suffered by him, including that he kept “beating the sh*t” out of her.
Evans was on bail conditions which said he must not contact Ms Sanchez directly or indirectly, when she was found dead on the floor in his lounge.
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Jurors at Brighton Crown Court on Tuesday unanimously found Evans guilty of murder, one count of unlawful wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour.
He was found not guilty of another count of unlawful wounding.
Prosecutor Ryan Richter had told the trial it was immediately apparent to police who found Ms Sanchez that she had multiple injuries, with a swollen face “completely discoloured by bruising”.
According to Professor Al-Sarraj, an expert in neuropathology, her significant brain injury was like those sustained in cases of car crashes and falls from significant height, Mr Richter said.
The prosecutor added a post-mortem examination of Ms Sanchez’s body showed chest injuries and damage to her left lung that had caused her to develop pneumonia, which led to her death.
Jurors heard how neighbours called the police on several occasions because of incidents between Evans and Ms Sanchez.
On one occasion a neighbour’s doorbell camera captured Evans dragging Ms Sanchez by the hair through the street, and another neighbour also saw Evans punching her in the face, calling her a “disgusting c***”, while she asked him to stop hurting her.
Mr Richter said how family members saw injuries on Ms Sanchez such as a split lip and candle wax on her arms.
“She had become really scared and when talking about everyday things she would suddenly break down and cry,” said Ms Sanchez’s brother Matthew Phillips.
“She had started to become withdrawn and was not seeing him as much as she did.”
On April 18, Ms Sanchez told police during a 40-minute conversation about the abuse she suffered and said she was scared he would kill her if he found out she had been talking to police.
The next day she called the police to retract what she said, the prosecutor told jurors, telling them she was an alcoholic and she remembered now that she had not been attacked, but had fallen out of a car.
Despite this, Evans was arrested and bailed on April 26.
He denied the allegations, telling officers she was an alcoholic who fell over all the time.
Evans was arrested on the morning of May 13 and told police Ms Sanchez had turned up at his home two days before her death, with what looked like “sunburn” on her face, and was bleeding from her nose and mouth, Mr Richter said.
A friend of Evans, Adam Roberts, told police that the day before Ms Sanchez’s death, he had seen Evans going “mental” at her for about five minutes, punching her and stamping on her head.
Evans did not give evidence during the trial but jurors heard a statement from defence witness Stacey Curtis, a school friend of Ms Sanchez, who last saw her two weeks before she died.
The care assistant said Ms Sanchez had two black eyes and a swollen nose and told her she had been attacked by a different man who she owed £20 to.
Ms Curtis recalled Ms Sanchez as a “caring, friendly and outgoing person who would do anything for anyone”.
Evans, of Crawley, will be sentenced on a date to be confirmed.
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