Shane Watson Sedgley murder - Pictures show true colours of evil killer

Brandishing a crossbow and aiming it menacingly towards the camera, these exclusive images show the true colours of evil killer Shylon Wishart.

The teenage thug posted the pictures on his personal Facebook profile in a chilling public display of bravado just months before he brutally battered innocent Shane Watson to death in a Sedgley alleyway.

But Wishart was today facing a life sentence after being found guilty by a jury of the killing, carried out alongside co-defendant James Cartwright, who had earlier admitted murder.

Cartwright also displayed his disregard for his victim on the social networking website, simply posting as his Facebook profile picture an image revealing the words: "Thug Life."

The pictures can today be revealed by the Express & Star following the conclusion of the trial of Wishart who, throughout his seven-day court case, callously maintained he was not responsible for delivering the killer blows that led to the death of the popular Mr Watson.

But jurors took just one hour 23 minutes to see through his web of lies and convicted him for his part in an attack that saw the victim stripped, battered and urinated on.

Detectives today revealed there was no clear motive for the murder and that Mr Watson's killing had had a "devastating impact" on the victim's distraught family.

Police explained that the three former Dormston School pupils may have known each other as residents of the close-knit Sedgley community, but officers said there was nothing to suggest that there was any adverse history between any of them.

During his trial, Wishart stood in the witness box and said he was attacked by debt collector Mr Watson following an argument over a cigarette, but jurors found that account to be false.

"It was a particularly cruel incident," said Det Sgt Mike Chambers, who was part of the team that investigated the murder.

"After murdering Shane, they set out to humiliate him. They took photographs of themselves urinating on him.

"Whether their intention was to publish those photographs, we just don't know.

"In quite a few murders, it is often the case that we don't know what the motive is. That's the case here, but there was certainly no identifiable history between the victim or the defendants."

Jurors were told during the trial that Mr Watson had been in Monty's Bar in High Street, Sedgley, on July 27 and into the the early hours of the following morning.

He and his girlfriend, Kelly Handley, were walking to a friend's house after leaving the bar when they became separated after a row.

Within a few minutes, Mr Watson spoke to his partner on the phone and told her he would come and find her because she was not familiar with the area. But that was the last time she managed to speak to him. The two killers, who had also been in Monty's Bar and were on their way to Wishart's nearby home, pounced in the alleyway and kicked, punched and stamped on Mr Watson until he was dead.

Cruelly, they then stripped the victim and took pictures of themselves urinating on him, even tossing his trainers over a garden fence.

Their intent to humiliate Mr Watson did not end there. When a concerned Miss Handley tried to call her boyfriend, they answered his phone and told her: "Your man has been dealt with."

Callously, they even told Mr Watson's mother, Jane, that her son was "dead in the alley" when she tried to contact him on his phone.

Tragically, it was she and Miss Handley who discovered Mr Watson's battered body in the alleyway off Springfield Grove, close to where Mr Watson lived. Devastated Miss Handley told jurors she was unable to recognise him other than the clothing he was wearing.

Det Sgt Griffiths said: "My thoughts are really with Jane Watson. For her to come across her own son dying in an alleyway must have been absolutely devastating."

As paramedics fought to save Mr Watson's life, Cartwright and 19-year-old Wishart went to get changed before making there way to a house party in nearby Bilston Street. It was there that they bragged to revellers about "just knocking out Shane".

Witnesses at the party told jurors how the duo appeared "hyper" and how they were showing pictures of lifelong Wolves fan Mr Watson lying in the alleyway, some showing them urinating on him.

After boasting about the incident, they then made their way home before being arrested by officers within just 10 hours of the murder.

On the day of Mr Watson's death, residents flooded the scene with flowers in tribute. Mr Watson's parents, Jane and Steven, released a statement thanking the community and saying they did not realise how popular Shane was.

Since then, friends and family have worked to have the alleyway permanently shut down, with hundreds of people signing a petition.

But Dudley Council refused to close it, stating that more than three quarters of people surveyed wanted it to remain open.

Wishart, of North Springfield, and 18-year-old Cartwright, of Sandyfields Road, will be sentenced at a later date.