A serial criminal's reign of terror across Harrogate finally culminated yesterday (October 3), when he was handed a life sentence for murder. 

Philip Watson, 35, murdered 56-year-old Paul Tillett at his Strawberry Dale flat on September 29 last year. 

He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, when Mr Justice Hilliard told the court Watson "took pleasure" in inflicting pain and suffering on other people, including his murder victim. 

But the fatal attack at Mr Tillett's own home was far from Watson's first run in with the law. A man whose life of crime started when he was just 13, Watson already had 84 convictions on his record and had been jailed three times before the murder. 

Mr Justice Hilliard ordered Watson to spend a minimum of 31 years and 108 days behind bars, bringing the case that has left Mr Tillett's family heartbroken and Harrogate's community shaken to an end. 

But, as the judge told the court, no sentence can ever put right what Watson did, nor could it reflect the value of Mr Tillett's life.

The Stray Ferret has covered the case more than any other news organisation and was the only publication to cover the trial of Watson's co-accused in June. 

You can read just some of our coverage here and here, but we have put together an overview of the case now legal proceedings have finished. 

Police found Mr Tillett’s body bound and gagged at his flat -  number 17, 8 Strawberry Dale – on the evening of September 29, 2024.

Jamie Hill KC, prosecuting, told the court Mr Tillett was considered vulnerable; he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was assigned a social worker.

Mr Tillett was described as a "gentle giant" throughout the trial of Jason Johnson - a 27-year-old who was also accused of the murder but was later acquitted - and his family said he lived his life with a "soft heart". 

But Mr Tillett struggled with drug misuse, despite a period of being clean, and other drug users – including Watson – would take over Mr Tillett’s flat to use it as a hub to take illicit substances.

Those who knew Watson described him as a bully and a psychopath throughout Mr Johnson's trial, and it is clear he held a vendetta against Mr Tillett, who reported his killer to the police twice before his death. 

Watson punched a hole in Mr Tillett’s wall on May 31, 2024, and told him he “would smack him”. On that occasion, Watson did not follow through with the threat and left the flat.

But he returned the following day, as Mr Hill said:

As Watson searched Mr Tillett’s flat for a syringe to take drugs, Mr Tillett called the police to report him. 

But Watson heard Mr Tillett speaking to police and called him a “grass”, a word he would use repeatedly when he murdered Mr Tillett. 

Watson was arrested for the latter incident and released on police bail, which prohibited him from contacting Mr Tillett and visiting 8 Strawberry Dale. 

Mr Hill said these bail conditions were renewed on August 8, 2024, so he was subject to the conditions at the time of the murder.

Watson breached these conditions, as well as court bail conditions set in relation to a theft charge, by not only visiting Mr Tillett again, but, of course, murdering him. 

The murder

Mr Tillett and several named drug users - including Watson, Mr Johnson and a witness named Laura Gwynn - were at his flat on the night of September 28, 2024.

Mr Hill told the court:

The exact time of the fatal attack has not been determined, but it believed to have been in the early hours of September 29.

During Mr Johnson's trial, the prosecution said Watson was the “main perpetrator” and subjected Mr Tillett to a “prolonged and persistent attack” with elements of torture. 

Watson punched, kicked and stamped on Mr Tillett, before setting fire to his hair using an aerosol can, which acted as a makeshift flamethrower.

The court heard his nose and ear were cut with nail clippers, he was stabbed in the buttock, suffocated with a pillow and a bread bun was stuffed in his mouth.

In one final act of humiliation, Watson carved a “W” into Mr Tillett’s forehead.

Mr Hill described the murder as “sadistic conduct”.

Mr Johnson, now a free man, admitted he was present during Mr Tillett’s murder but denied ever having a hand in the killing.

Laura Gwynn, who died a month after the murder and refused to ever provide police with an official statement, claimed Watson forced her to watch the attack.

Watson was arrested on September 30 and declined to comment when he was interviewed under caution on two separate occasions.

However, when he was being searched in custody, he told police: “There’s no point in doing this, I’m bang to rights”.

He also told a custody manager: “I’ve really messed my life up this time... I'm f*****".

Watson pleaded guilty to the murder on April 30, 2025. The admission came after he had been, as Mr Justice Hilliard described, “extremely uncooperative” with court proceedings.

Mental state and previous convictions

David Lamb KC, defending, told yesterday's sentencing hearing the defence “will accept that [the murder] supports sadistic conduct by its very nature”.

Mr Lamb cited a number of reports prepared ahead of the sentencing, including a psychiatric report, which he said suggested Watson was “at least unwell” at the time of the murder.

Watson was found to be suffering from depression, ADHD, antisocial personality disorder and emotionally unstable personality disorder.

The killer's mother disowned him when he was 14, the court heard, and he has had little parental guidance throughout his life. 

In the months before the killing, Watson had reported experiencing extreme paranoia and suicidal thoughts, and said he had self-harmed and felt anxious and depressed.

His partner also died at some point before the murder, the court heard.  

Mr Lamb told the court:

Watson has previously been admitted to psychiatric hospital and is now prescribed quetiapine – an anti-psychotic medication – and methadone.

Mr Lamb also said Watson's long-term use of cocaine and cannabis "appears to have been a factor that inhibited his behaviour at the time".

Despite his guilty plea, Watson has shown little discernible remorse for his actions. He even told member of prison staff Mr Tillett "deserved" what happened to him, and said he been using "a lot of drugs" at the time.  

Throughout Mr Johnson's trial, the court heard on multiple occasions that Watson had tortured other people.

On one occasion in August 2024, Watson tied a named man to a chair with socks and filmed him on a mobile phone. During filming, he asked the man to repeat that he was a “muppet”, had not had sex in 30 years and was "a grass".

The man was believed to have been punched multiple times by Watson, whom Mr Justice Hilliard believed had "taken pleasure" in the humiliation and suffering he caused the man. 

One witness recounted that Watson had bragged about holding a woman hostage, plying her with drugs and telling her that he had killed her son and “hid the body in Paul Tillett’s sofa”.

Another named man was tied up by Watson at a house in Jennyfields over “drug money”, Leeds Crown Court was previously told. However, this incident was never reported to police.

But it seems not even the 366 days Watson spent behind bars before his sentencing could deter his aggressive ways. 

Watson was transferred from prison to Leeds Crown Court for his sentencing hearing, but he initially refused to leave his cell at the court to attend the hearing.

Watson threatened members of prison staff and was harming himself ahead of the hearing. When he eventually came into the courtroom, he was handcuffed in the dock and remained silent.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hilliard said Watson “took pleasure in humiliating others and making them suffer”.

He added the killer had a “great deal of enthusiasm” towards inflicting pain, suffering and humiliation on Mr Tilllett, and said any reasonable person would view the murder as “sadistic conduct”.

'He was the apple of my eye'

In a joint victim personal statement prepared by Mr Tillett’s sisters – Linda Ware and Carol Tomlinson – and his elderly mother, the court was told his family are “heartbroken” by his death.

Mr Tillett’s mother, Marjorie Tillett, who is in her 90s and did not attend court, said:

His sister Linda said Paul was "such a loving brother", who did not deserve what happened to him. 

Carol described her late brother as "so caring and loving", adding she misses him dearly.