The Unsettling Death Of Kelly Anne Bates At The Hands Of Her Senior Boyfriend

Born in May 1978 in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, Kelly Ann Bates was considered mature for her age and often preferred the company of people older than herself.

So when, in 1993, Kelly told her parents she had an older boyfriend, it came as little surprise. At just 14, this was her first relationship, and she approached it with the innocence and naivety of someone experiencing love for the first time.

Kelly’s parents, Tommy and Margaret, were eager to meet their daughter’s boyfriend. Kelly had told them she’d met him on the street while walking home from a babysitting job, where he had offered to walk her the rest of the way to “keep her safe.” To her parents, he initially appeared polite—almost gentlemanly.

But in Margaret’s own words, the first time she met him, the hairs on the back of her neck “stood up.”

This was not a boy a few years older than Kelly. This was a fully grown man, introducing himself as 32 year old Dave Smith.

Despite her initial misgivings about her daughter dating a grown man, Margaret couldn’t ignore what appeared to be Dave’s caring nature toward Kelly, nor his frequent expressions of concern for her well-being.

But as the months passed, that concern slowly curdled into possessiveness. Before long, Kelly’s parents were in for the shock of their lives when they discovered that both Dave and Kelly had been lying to them all along…

“Dave,” whose real name was James Smith, was not 32 years old as he had claimed. He was, in fact, 48—more than 30 years older than Kelly, and even older than her own father.

Furious, Margaret confronted Smith. His response was chillingly simple:

After the revelation of Smith’s true identity and age, Kelly began spending increasing amounts of time at his home, often disappearing for days at a time without so much as a phone call to her family.

When her parents did manage to see her, they were alarmed by the changes. Kelly had lost a noticeable amount of weight, had stopped bathing, and no longer took care of her appearance. Most disturbing of all, her body was marked with bruises and bite marks.

On one occasion, Kelly Ann returned home for a single day to pack her belongings, preparing to move permanently into Smith’s house.

When she avoided her mother’s gaze, Margaret gently but firmly pushed Kelly’s hair away from her face—and was confronted with heavy black bruising covering half of it.

Despite Margaret’s desperate pleas, Kelly refused to acknowledge that Smith was abusing her and would not leave him. After that day, her visits home became increasingly rare. By the time she was 16, Kelly had cut off contact with her family altogether.

She was now completely isolated—and entirely at Smith’s mercy.

On Margaret’s birthday that year, she received a card said to be from her daughter—but written unmistakably in Smith’s handwriting. Margaret knew then that something was deeply wrong, yet felt utterly powerless to intervene.

Before long, her worst fears would be realised.

On 16th April 1996, James Smith walked into his local police station and reported the “accidental” drowning of Kelly Anne Bates. But when officers arrived at his home, it became immediately clear that her death was anything but an accident.

Kelly’s emaciated body bore more than 150 separate injuries. The evidence revealed that her suffering had been prolonged over a period of approximately four weeks—an ordeal so severe it would leave even seasoned investigators shaken, and would ultimately break the hearts of all who learned of it.

An autopsy would soon reveal the true extent of her injuries as follows:

-Smashed kneecaps, rendering her unable to walk

-She had been starved and denied water

-Scalding to her left leg and buttocks along with burns on her thigh caused by an iron

-A broken arm

-Multiple stab wounds from a range of sharp objects including knives, forks and pruning shears

-Stab wounds inside her mouth

-Crushed hands

-Mutilated nose, eyebrows, mouth and genitalia

-Partial scalping

Adding to the horror, investigators revealed that Kelly Anne’s eyes had been forcibly removed up to three weeks before her death. Further stab wounds were later inflicted into the empty sockets. She remained alive for a prolonged period, enduring unimaginable suffering until her death.

The evidence left no doubt that James Smith’s actions were deliberate and calculated—intended not only to disfigure Kelly, but to inflict the greatest possible pain, humiliation, and degradation.

James Smith was charged with Kelly Anne’s murder, but denied responsibility, claiming he had done nothing to her 'that she hadn’t asked him to do.' He also attempted to shift blame onto Kelly herself, telling officers that she would “put me through hell, winding me up.”

As the trial unfolded, it emerged that Smith had a long and disturbing history of violence against women. Over a period spanning three decades, multiple former partners had reported him for assaults and sustained abuse, revealing a clear and consistent pattern of behaviour.

When questioned in court about the sadistic acts inflicted upon Kelly, Smith claimed she had dared him to do them. A psychiatrist later testified that the case ultimately stemmed from Smith’s severe paranoia and morbid jealousy toward his much younger victim.

James Smith was found guilty and sentenced to the mandatory 25 years in prison. The case was so harrowing that every juror involved in the trial was offered—and accepted—counselling to help cope with what they had witnessed.

For Margaret Bates, however, no sentence could ever feel like justice. After the verdict, she spoke out, saying she had “lost the best thing in my life.”

Sadly, Margaret passed away in 2020 at the age of 65. Her husband, Tommy, said she had always longed to be reunited with Kelly—and now, in her own words, they would finally be together again.

James Smith was granted his first parole hearing in 2023; as of 2026, his whereabouts are unknown.