Worksop woman jailed for helping dispose of murderous brothers’ bloody clothes

Abbey Dixon was convicted of two counts of assisting an offender following a nine-week trial, alongside Luke Roe – who she was described in court as being in a relationship with – and his brother Matthew, who were found guilty of 85-year-old Henry Thwaites’s murder.

John Cammegh KC, prosecuting, said CCTV “clearly showed” Dixon, aged 28, helping the brothers wash and supplying fresh clothing, before burning their bloody rags in a bucket.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Mr Thwaites had been murdered just more than an hour previously, on the night of July 24, last year, when Dixon was recorded on a neighbour’s CCTV camera, as she and the brothers milled around outside her home on Watson Street.

"She was heard to say ‘Henry Thwaites deserved it. He deserved it so don't feel guilty’,” said Mr Cammegh.

“They're not going to tell you, because they don't want you to know,” she told the brothers’ father, Kevin Roe. “Would you rather they tell you now or wait till they get sentenced?”

Dixon also drove with the brothers to the remote spot where Mr Thwaites’s body was found the next day.

Luke Roe, of Potter Street, Worksop, and Matthew Roe, of Franklin Road, Jacksdale, were convicted of murder on May 26 at Nottingham Crown Court.

They were handed life sentences, with Luke, 34, to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison, while 25-year-old Matthew will serve a minimum of 24 years.

The court heard Dixon has no previous convictions and has been in custody since July 2022.

Michael Cane-Soothill, mitigating, said: “She was not present when Mr Thwaites was assaulted. It is clear she was aware some form of assault had taken place.

"She must have been aware it was a serious assault. I would say she was not aware anyone had been killed.”

He said she was self-medicating with alcohol and drugs to deal with flashbacks from previous trauma in her life.

Jailing her for two years today, Judge Nirmal Shant KC told Dixon: “I am mindful this is a lenient sentence. You have significant difficulties mentally and you could be described as particularly vulnerable.”