Mother of Yate drug addict Jason Betts tells of 'nightmare that won't end' as her son's killer is sentenced to 20 years in prison

Devastated Margaret March said she was completely unaware her son was taking drugs again or was allowing London dealers Nathan Skeen and Nixon Apire to use his flat in Celestine Road, Yate to prepare and sell crack cocaine and heroin.

Skeen, 30, of Ermine Road, London, was convicted of manslaughter, wounding with intent and two counts of supplying class A drugs after a five-week trial at Bristol Crown Court, Apire, 31, of Great North Road, Barnet, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and drugs charges after subjecting 38-year-old Jason to humiliating punishment beatings when he smoked their drugs.

In a letter read to the court by DC Pete Fowler, Mrs March said: “I had no idea Jason was involved in drugs again or in the trouble he was,” she said. “I feel quite stupid now not to see it.

“I had given him almost all my savings and now have hardly anything left. Part of me is angry at him for causing so much hurt and I actually felt quite ashamed at some of the things I heard in court during the trial.

“But for all the hurt Jason has caused me he was my son and I still love him. This whole thing feels like a nightmare that I should not be part of but which will not end.”

She said her son had visited her and 10-year-old grandson, Jason’s nephew Kieran, every day.

“I have cared for my grandson for five years and we used to see Jason almost every day,” she said. “He would sit and chat or sometimes go out for coffee and he would help fit things round the house.

“I really miss having that company every day and not spending time with Jason. He was more like a father to Kieran and he misses him really badly.

"He is having counselling at school and tries to protect me from the effect it is having on him but I am worried about him long-term.”

Mrs March, who sat alongside her other son Marcus in court, said she feared reprisals from Jason’s attackers.

“The people involved frighten me,” she said. “I worry they know where I live and they will come back to Yate. I would like to be kept informed of when they are released.

“Ideally I want to move away now as Jason is not there but I cannot take Kieran out of school and it has taken so long for him to settle.”

Mrs March sobbed in court as a letter of apology, written by her son’s killer, was read out by defence barrister Andrew Horsell.

“If only I had never come to Bristol that day, maybe Jason would still be here,” it said.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain caused to your family and I hope one day I can be forgiven.”

Judge Neil Ford said Skeen and Nixon had deliberately tempted ‘hopeless addict’ Jason before stabbing him with a kitchen knife, repeatedly stubbing a lit cigarette out in his face, breaking a glass over his head and hitting him with bottles. The attack in February 2015 left terrified Jason, who at five feet and six inches weighed just seven stone, with a bleed on the brain.

Skeen then returned to Yate 10 days after the first beating and ‘bitch slapped’ Jason twice in the face causing the earlier haemorrhage to bleed.

Father-of-two Skeen prevented Jason’s friend from calling an ambulance for four hours in what was described as ‘considered, calculated violence on a man in his own home’.

Mr Ford said: “You treated the frail and obviously unwell Jason Betts with total indifference. Who knows what would have happened if the emergency services had been called earlier.

“You put temptation in the way by leaving crack cocaine and heroin, it was calculated and cruel.

“You deprived Jason Betts of his life and the greatest loss to his mother, young nephew and his circle of friends.”

Neither men were said to have shown remorse during court proceedings.

Skeen, wearing a suit, looked ahead as he was sentenced to 20 years in prison while Apire, in a blue long-sleeved sweater, held his head in his hands as he was sentenced to 15 years jail time.