After the crisis at Amanda’s flat, Jonathan hid in a cheap hotel near Harwich, funded by cash Amanda provided from money Bella had given her. He phoned Martha from a train platform, asking for a temporary place to stay. Martha immediately welcomed him without questions, and he moved into her cottage in Enderford—remaining there nearly a year later.

Jonathan settled into village life with Martha and her two sons, helping at her flower shop and presenting himself as a traveling trainer for a hospitality company. He maintained the lie by bringing home hotel souvenirs and detailed descriptions gleaned from his real work as a paid companion for women around the country.

He described this secret work—sometimes sexual, often involving non-sex services—at high rates that he found degrading, especially while living with Martha. He contrasted Martha’s kindness and creativity with Tara’s past traits and expressed a desire to marry Martha and share in her business ambitions, but he kept his profile low due to his recent crimes and deceptions.

Jonathan recounted how, after Tara’s death, he messaged Tara’s daughter Emma from Tara’s phone, fabricating a story about running away to the Algarve with Jonathan. Emma challenged the story but took about a month to report Tara missing; by then Jonathan had left Amanda’s flat. Nearly a year later, Emma continued to appear in news reports, urging more police action, with no breakthroughs.

Jonathan acknowledged Amanda remained a risk but noted no one seemed to be looking for her, allowing him to feel temporarily secure. This sense of security ended in late February when he received a news alert: a headless, handless, and legless female torso had been found in Essex woodland, estimated around fifty years old. Though public details were scarce, Jonathan knew instantly the body was Amanda’s.