Andrew Saunders’s parents separated when he was young, from there after he lived with his mum and sister, but he still had a loving and supportive upbringing.
In his dad’s absence, his grandparents were an important part of his upbringing, with his granddad being his father figure.
Andrew first met Zoe Morgan in June 2014, They were both about 18 years old and they went on to form a relationship.
Their relationship carried on until July 2015.
I don’t know the ins and outs of it but a month or so later they got back together, however they didn’t tell their families.
It was later said that Zoe’s dad thought it was obvious that Andrew was very controlling of Zoe in their relationship.
To the extent that on one occasion, Zoe told her dad that he’d ‘grabbed her around the throat’ during an argument.
A couple more months down the line, In November 2015 Andrew’s granddad died and let’s not forget that his grandad had pretty much always been like a dad to him.
In 2016 Andrew was 20 years old, he was working as a receptionist at a hotel and studying accountancy at college.
In June 2016 Zoe who was 21 years old was working for Matalan which is a fashion and homeware retailer.
The branch she was working at was on Queen Street in the center of Cardiff.
A New Romance
It was while working there that she met 33year old Lee Simmons. And at Around the 12th of July, a relationship began between them.
According to Andrew, it was about this time that of the blue, Zoe stopped speaking to him.
So When he spoke to her a few days after the 13th of July he accused her of cheating on him.
Of course, She denied it.
Andrew then started looking at Zoe’s Facebook, scouring it for clues.
As he did he saw that Lee Simmons had been “liking” Zoe’s photos,
Andrew then clicked on his profile and after reading his posts he concluded there Zoe and Lee were in a relationship.
It was On 19 July 2016 that Zoe Morgan told Andrew, over Facebook, that the relationship between Zoe and Andrew was not working.
Andrew again accused her of cheating, saying “You’re definitely chatting to someone else”, and “I will kill whoever it is”.
He also told her “I still love you”, before threatening: “I’ll torch his house.”
At some point, he even went to the extent of sending her a photo of the back of her house.
And went on to say he had contacted Lee on Facebook and threatened to kill him, saying he would “smash his f****** head in”.
On 22 July Zoe talked to her dad telling him that Andrew was stalking her.
on 24th July, Andrew messaged her again saying: ‘I love you still, as I just do’.
On 27 July he met Zoe and Lee Simmons and Lisa confirmed that he was her new boyfriend. I don’t know if he’d found them or whether they’d arranged to meet… I just don’t know.
It was also July when Andrew’s sister had come home from university. She heard him on the phone to Zoe.
He was upset and crying, saying “I’ve done a lot for you”.
In another phone call, she heard him say “You cheated on me”.
his sister later described him as going downhill from that time, he become very down and depressed. She recalls him crying and he basically just didn’t know what to do anymore.
His mum also described him as struggling to come to terms with their breakup.
She said from July 2015, he had been in and out of depression, but he never sought professional help.
And while he was down he would stay awake all night. one weekend in mid-September, she spoke to him at about 2 AM. He was upset about Zoe.
He spoke about ending his life because he felt he had nothing to live for.
I mean as a parent what do you do in this situation?
She tried to reassure him and encourage him to contact friends and go out with them.
Planning The Murder
It was in that month, September, that he decided to kill Zoe.
By the 17th of September, he was googling several subjects:
“the easiest way to kill a person,”
“how long do murderers serve in prison”
“how to slice a neck”.
and strangely “how to smoke a cigar”.
On the 20th of September, he went to Morrisons and bought two knives and some latex gloves.
At this time Zoe was on holiday and Andrew used his phone to look up flight arrival times.
His phone also had a note of the license plate of a car parked on Queen Street, the street on which Zoe and Lee worked.
Andrew was trying to identify Lee Simmons’ car.
The day after buying the knives, On 21 September he searched the internet trying to find out how to slit someone’s neck and throat, and again he was trying to find the registration number of Lee’s car.
The next day he was back online doing research.
He was looking up how to blow up a car without getting caught. And
“Is it as easy to slice someone’s throat as they make it look in movies and TV shows”,
“how to blow up a car without being caught”,
and “How can a car be rigged to explode when started”.
By the 25 September he’d searched “Can pellet guns kill?”
It was that day, the 25 September that Andrew was first seen between 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock in the morning on queen street.
He was walking back and forth in the vicinity of Matalan.
He again viewed Zoe’s and Lee’s Facebook profiles and searched the internet for pellet guns and gun shops in Cardiff.
The next day, the 26 September he found out Zoe and her family had come home from holiday.
He made a note on his phone, “Home now. Plan into action ASAP!!”
The day after that he was again seen walking back and forth along Queen Street.
He knew, that Zoe started her shift at Matalan at 6 a.m.
But he didn’t see her, so later that day you bought an air rifle and 500 pellets.
In the very early hours of Wednesday the 28th of September 2016 he searched YouTube for “motivation for killing” and “motivation for revenge”.
He watched a video called “10 people who got revenge on cheaters”.
And one called “16 Steps to kill someone and not get caught” and “how long do murderers get in Prison?”
He then wrote letters to his mum, sister, grandmother, aunt, and uncle. These letters were essentially suicide notes.
In one of the letters he wrote: “I have struggled with life for a while now and I could not deal with it any longer sorry. I tried putting my negative thoughts and memories to the back of my mind but it’s keep coming back all the time. I’m in mental pain daily”.
“I think ISIS are the good guys most of the time and that’s pretty messed up. No one will forget me”
All the letters focused on him saying he was, messed up, feeling worthless, incomplete, and being better off dead.
He then left home at 4:41 in the morning.
By 5:30 he was waiting by a phone box on Queen Street.
At 5:45 he was walking at speed along Queen Street towards Matalan.
Zoe Morgan and Lee Simmons were waiting outside Matalan.
Zoe was about to start her shift and Lee had simply brought her to the shop.
Then From out of nowhere Andrew appeared and began to attack Lee.
Without warning he’d approached Lee Simmons from behind, grabbed him, took an 8″ knife from the rucksack, and proceeded to stab him in the back.
Lee fell to the floor, and Andrew persistently stabbed him in the chest.
Zoe tried to pull him off, and in response he said to her “Get the fuck off me, you fucking cunt” and shouted, “I’m coming for you next bitch”.
Lee struggled to get to his feet, Andrew punched him and he collapsed to the floor.
The knife, broke at some point while he was attacking Lee. So Andrew then used a second knife that he brought,
the second knife was bigger, measuring 10″. He continued the attack on Lee.
Zoe Morgan was screaming and running towards Boots.
In addition, witnesses were shouting “Stop stop stop”.
Andrew chased Zoe, shouting “Come here bitch”.
Having caught up with her he punched her in the face.
Zoe was cowering and trying to back away, but he stabbed her several times and she fell to the floor.
As with Lee while Zoe lying on the floor Andrew continued stabbing her in the back.
After the attack, he walked over to the body of Lee, picked up the bag in which he’d been carrying the knives, and walked away.
Police and paramedics were quick on the scene, medical assistance was given to both Lee Simmons and Zoe Morgan, but despite all efforts they were both pronounced dead.
Lee Simmons died as a result of sharp force injuries to the left chest.
Eight stab wounds were found:
four to the chest, three of which were deep, two penetrating through to the rib which demonstrated movement of the knife within the wounds.
A deep stab wound was present on his right shoulder,
and stab wounds were found on his upper back and face.
The cause of Zoe Morgan’s death was sharp-force injuries to the trunk.
Eight stab wounds were present to the right upper arm, the base of the neck, the left shoulder, and the small of the back.
A further three slash wounds were present on her right thumb, left shoulder, and her scalp.
One deep stab wound was present on the back of the scalp, and two others on the scalp from which the broken tip of a knife blade was recovered.
In addition to the stab wounds, both victims suffered more superficial injuries resulting from the attack.
In total, Lee Simmons sustained 14 injuries and Zoe Morgan sustained 32.
Aftermath
Having killed Lee Simmons and Zoe Morgan, Andrew walked to his car and began to drive to where he intended to take his own life.
He tried phoning his mum, and he eventually got through to her just before 6 o’clock.
The call lasted for 11 minutes during which he told her that he had stabbed Zoe and her new boyfriend, he thought they were dead, he was going to kill himself, and that he had left her a note.
She told him not to do anything other than come home or go to the police station because she didn’t want him to get into any more trouble.
As you can imagine she was so scared at this point that he was going to take his own life
While on the phone with him she woke his sister up, and his sister phoned the police.
His mum did managed to persuade him to go home.
He drove through the gates at his family home at 6:10 am. He brought with him the gun and the knife which he’d used to kill Zoe.
At 6:17 am he texted his dad saying ‘Thanks for being a pathetic, useless father. Just killed two people. Cheers.’
At 6:30 a.m. he posted a status to Facebook which simply said ‘F***’ and then later posted another which said ‘Product of society.’
Shortly after the police arrived, they seized the gun, the knife, and latex gloves.
He said To the police officer who handcuffed him,
“I’m sorry, you know sometimes you just snap”.
He was arrested and after he’d been cautioned he said “Are they both dead”, “One of the knives is in the kitchen, it’s wrapped in tissue, the other one broke off and I left it there in Cardiff, I’m really sorry for what I’ve done, I just lost control”.
He said To the officer who took him to the police station “Your head is a weird thing, one moment, that’s all it was”.
In custody, He asked: ‘Are they both dead? I just want to know for peace of mind.’
When interviewed by the police he submitted a prepared written statement that said “I Andrew Saunders accept I am responsible for the deaths of Lee Simmons and Zoe Morgan”.
Then On 19 December 2016, you pleaded guilty to each count of murder.
Court
In court, his mum sister, and other people who’d known him since childhood along with his school tutor were character witnesses
His tutor described him as a polite, gentle, and hardworking young man who was not only a pleasure to teach but a pleasure to know.
He describes him as a gentle giant who at the time of leaving school had developed into a young man of great potential.
Up to this point, Andrew had never been in trouble with the police. And he didn’t even really drink alcohol
Of course, mental health experts played a big part in this case, but let’s not forget he’s already pleaded guilty to murder. So I’ve tried to dumb this down as much as possible to just the essential info…. Bare with it.
In the first report from a consultant forensic psychiatrist following meetings with him in November 2016 he diagnosed him as suffering from a moderate depressive episode.
He went on to point out several life events which attributed to it:
the death of his granddad,
the ending of his relationship with Zoe,
the sudden death of his dog,
failure in exams
and his work being less busy.
On 20 February 2017, the consultant read Andrew’s suicide notes and added that he was under significant emotional distress around the time of the killing.
He concluded that it’s unlikely Andrew was suffering from any mental illness disorder which substantially impaired his responsibility at the time of the killing.
He went on to say was potentially suffering from adjustment disorder in which “during subjective distress and emotional disturbance patients can present risk to themselves and others.”
The starting point for the minimum term of his life sentence was 30 years for each murder.
Aggravating Factors
The aggravating factors were:
a significant degree of planning and premeditation
the mental and/or physical suffering inflicted on each victim before death
y the use of the two knives which were brought to the scene
the public location of the offences where there were a number of bystanders.
Mitigation
expressed remorse
You have never been in trouble with the police
emotional distress leading up to and during the attack
His age, (he was 20 years old at the time of the murders and at the time of his plea.
And his admission of guilt straight away.
With all being considered his mimimum sentence was placed at 28years, he was then given full credit for his guilty plea, which is 1/6.
Andrew Saunders was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years and 4 months.
Appeal
But then… in 2018 the Court of Appeal heard how Saunders had claimed he was wrongly convicted because he was mentally unwell at the time. See Diminished responsibility always shows up at some point!
At the appeal, judges were told that fresh medical evidence suggests that Saunders was suffering from an “abnormality” of mind.
However this appeal ended up being dropped, as far as I can tell we were never told the reason why.
Impact Statements
Zoe Morgan’s parents Julie and Mark, described her killer Andrew Saunders as “evil”. They said: “No matter how long this evil individual gets in prison, it will make no difference to the life sentence that we have until we die.
“We are all totally heartbroken and will miss our beautiful intelligent girl for the rest of our lives. We have had a life sentence put on us by this horrible individual. Zoe and her partner Lee could have had a bright and happy future together and will miss out on so much.”
A statement from Simmons’s family said: “Lee had met the love of his life in Zoe, he could not have been happier. He was the most gentle and caring young man who gave his all to everybody; you could not have wished to meet a more kind and thoughtful person.”
They thanked Saunders’ family for the help they gave the police. “It has not only had a massive impact upon ours and Zoe’s family but we believe also Andrew Saunders’ family. We will never be able to forgive him for selfishly taking Lee away from us but we would like to thank his family for fully cooperating with the police in helping to secure his speedy arrest and conviction.”
