WITH just two weeks to go before she was due to give birth, Nikitta Grender decided to stay at home while her boyfriend Ryan Mayes went on a night out with his cousin.
Horrifically, it would prove to be the last time the young couple, who had already named their unborn daughter Kelsey May, ever saw each other.
In the early hours of the following morning, in February 2011, Ryan’s twisted cousin Carl Whant broke into their home, raped and stabbed Nikitta, 19, to death.
Then, in a barbaric attempt to disguise his brutal crimes, the cold-blooded former nightclub bouncer set fire to their home in Newport, south Wales, which was quickly engulfed in flames.
The blaze, which also claimed the life of Nikitta’s pet dog, burned slowly for two hours before it was discovered by a neighbour at dawn.
A shocking documentary entitled Murder: Smoke and Lies, airing on ITV on Wednesday, reveals how police and forensic experts painstakingly tracked down Whant, then 27.
Former Detective Chief Superintendent of Gwent Police Steve Mogg was among the first on the scene, and discovered Nikitta’s charred remains.
More than a decade later, he remains haunted by what he saw that day.
“It’s horrific,” he said. “It’s probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever had to attend, the memories will live with me.
“It will always stay with me, the sights, the images I saw are still there and I can never shake them off. What he’s done is beyond comprehension.
“I entered the premises with my colleagues from the fire service, and entered the bedroom where the scene of the fire was and saw the body of a young woman who was heavily pregnant at the time.
“Even though there were alarm bells ringing at the scene, we didn’t know because of the state of the body if we were dealing with a murder or a tragic accident.”
Geraldine McKelvie, co-author of Nikitta: A Mother’s Story, explained why fire investigators were immediately suspicious: “She was lying on her back, but when people die in fires they tend to be in the foetal position trying to protect themselves.
“There was a heavily pregnant woman, who would have been restless, with a dog in the house which would have been barking that hadn’t disturbed her – which immediately made them think we need to look at this in more detail, it’s not as straightforward as it might seem.”
Double murder
On first hearing the tragic news, Nikitta’s parents were confused.
Her mother Marcia Brunnock said: “The police were asking, did she smoke? Nikitta didn’t like smoking, she was dead against it.
“I thought maybe it was a dodgy pair of straighteners, maybe she’d knocked a candle over – trying to make excuses.”
In the confusion, her father Paul lashed out at Nikitta’s boyfriend Ryan.
He recalled: “I was screaming, I wasn’t being told anything.
“As I was running around all I could see was Ryan and he just looked at me with this look – really confused – as if to say what was going on?
“I punched him in the face because I was so angry. It was absolutely devastating for us.”
Within hours, however, Nikitta’s autopsy revealed that the blaze had been far from a tragic accident.
There was no trace of carbon monoxide in her blood stream – that suggested she was already dead by the time the fire started.
Nikitta had been stabbed twice, once through the abdomen which had killed the baby, and once through the neck.
DCS Mogg added: “Later that day I had a call from the pathologist to say we were dealing with a double murder.
“We’ve got the horrific murder of a nine months pregnant young woman, so my concern was if somebody is carrying out what they think is a fantasy for them and they’ve committed that crime what’s to stop them doing something else?
“It was my job to find out the unknown facts, how it happened and who was responsible.
Not only had he taken Nikitta and Kelsey May but he had set her on fire so she couldn’t even be recognised, to hide what he had done,
Marcia Brunnock
“She was in a very happy relationship, she was due to have a baby, clearly somebody who was very loving, very homely, very caring.
“One of the worst things you can do as a police officer is tell someone their daughter has been taken away from them, not in an accident but through somebody else’s hand.
“It was an abhorrent crime, it shocked the community.”
Nikitta’s parents then had to endure the unimaginable ordeal of identifying the remains of their daughter’s body.
Choking back tears, Marcia recalled: “Not only had he taken Nikitta and Kelsey May but he had set her on fire so she couldn’t even be recognised, to hide what he had done.
“We couldn’t even say a proper goodbye.
“By her head was a Moses basket where Kelsey May was.
“She looked like a little doll, she was beautiful. Nothing wrong with her, nothing.
“She had this horrible woollen bonnet on, I wanted to take it off. I was told I couldn’t remove it – that was where he had stabbed Nikitta in the stomach and the knife had gone into Kelsey May’s head.”
Inevitably the police turned their attention to Ryan.
He had last seen his girlfriend the previous afternoon, before spending the evening with Whant – who confirmed they had been drinking and taking cocaine.
At 2am they drove to a house party, but since other guests confirmed Ryan had been there until morning, he was quickly dismissed as a suspect.
The investigation shifted focus to Whant, who had left the house party at 5am, so did not have an alibi for the time of the murder.
Prime suspect
Whant claimed he was going to his Nan’s house, which was a five-minute drive away, to pick up cigarettes but CCTV footage showed his silver Ford Focus driving towards Nikitta’s flat.
He became the prime suspect.
The case took a dramatic turn when Whant’s girlfriend, Rachel Bird, revealed he had returned home later with scratch marks on his arm.
He claimed he had been in a fight with an Asian man and blonde woman, but Rachel did not believe him and there was no evidence to back up his story.
Nikitta’s DNA was found on his clothes and the carpet of his car, and Whant was arrested.
But following his initial arrest, the depths of his depravity became clear.
The pathologist recovered semen from Nikitta’s body – and it was Carl’s.
DCS Mogg added: “That was a major turning point. Now we knew he had not only committed murder – he’d raped Nikitta as well.
“It was only when we had the DNA from the semen, and the blood from the clothing there was no way he hadn’t committed the crime.
“He was very much into cocaine, drank heavily as well. In addition to that he saw himself as a man’s man.
“He was into bodybuilding, but a lonely type person.”
During questioning police were shocked by Whant’s cocky attitude – he was only interested in finding out the football score from that day – and even invented a sordid excuse for his repulsive crimes.
He claimed he had been invited to a consensual threesome with his cousin.
‘Calculating, devious and vain’
Despite 26 lengthy police interviews, Whant never confessed or displayed any remorse.
In fact while the investigation had been closing in, he had brazenly delivered flowers to Nikitta’s grieving parents.
Paul said: “I hugged him like I hugged my family members that day. How could someone do what he did then come to the house to show he’s grieving with us? It’s unreal.”
DCS Mogg explained Whant’s extraordinary behaviour: “He’s turning up to try and find out what people are saying, what information have the police told them.
“He went there to find out what they knew, to find out if we were on to him.
“He didn’t go there with any remorse, he didn’t go there with any feelings for the family. It was a very cold, very calculated move by him.
“I don’t think he had much attention from the opposite sex, that upset him, that annoyed him. He was quite angry that other people were getting attention and he wasn’t.
“That added to the obsession that he had with Nikitta.”
A year later a jury found Whant guilty of murder, rape, child destruction and arson. The judge called him calculating, devious and vain, and sentenced him to a minimum of 25 years in jail.
