TV Documentary Examines the Ash Murder of Joy Boulton

Published on: 21 Sep, 2024
Updated on: 20 Sep, 2024

By David Reading

Sky Crime has televised the shocking story of Ash woman Joy Boulton, who was brutally attacked and killed by her love rival in a jealous rage in May 2023.

Through interviews with distraught relatives and the police, the documentary shows Joy to have been a very caring person always ready to help other people despite having many health and mobility problems.

In contrast, her killer Sara McKenzie, is shown to be a woman full of jealous anger.

McKenzie, 62, of Fairview Road, was jailed for 26 years after being found guilty of the murder of 59-year-old Joy at Joy’s home in Church View, Ash.

A police car at the scene of the murder in Church View, Ash in May 2023.

The documentary, which is part of the “Killer in my Village” series, shows McKenzie filmed on a police body camera turning up at Joy’s house soon after the murder was discovered. It was her strange behaviour at the scene that alerted police to the fact that something was not quite right. She appeared to show no concern for Joy.

It transpired that the man Joy was planning to marry, Trevor Dibnah, had been in a long-term relationship with McKenzie but he had broken it off. McKenzie became full of rage after seeing Trevor’s engagement announcement on Facebook.

In an interview shown in the documentary prosecutor Nicholas Corselis KC describes the crime as “almost Shakespearian in terms of the motivation, the jealousy and what that can do.”

A fact highlighted on the programme was that Trevor himself was initially suspected of Joy’s murder and was held in custody for 36 hours. But when he was finally vindicated, the police turned their full attention to McKenzie.

It transpired that unable to cope with Trevor’s rejection, McKenzie went to Joy’s house with the sole intention of killing her, striking her multiple times in a sustained and ferocious attack with a heavy object. In CCTV footage shown in the programme, McKenzie is seen marching purposefully towards Joy’s house.

Joy’s final act was to scratch McKenzie’s face, which proved critical in proving McKenzie was responsible after her DNA was discovered under Joy’s fingernails.

The trial for the murder of Joy Boulton took place at Guildford Crown Court

As well as murder, McKenzie was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice. This related to a fictitious story she told to the police about being attacked by a mystery woman on the same day as Joy’s murder.

Sara McKenzie received a life sentence with a minimum term of 26 years.

McKenzie, a fan of murder mysteries, realised the police would find her DNA on Joy and constructed an elaborate cover-up.

She claimed she had been the victim of an attack during which the female suspect had scratched her and grabbed a handful of her hair. McKenzie told police that she thought the woman had been after her DNA in order to plant this at the murder scene.

During the documentary, we hear the call McKenzie made to the police, beginning with: “A strange thing happened to me this morning. I went for a walk and got attacked.”

The documentary shows how McKenzie tried to conceal her crime, disposing of the clothing she had worn and the weapon used. She had a bath to remove any trace of blood and cleaned it up afterwards. Forensic scientists were able to locate traces of Joy’s blood in McKenzie’s bath using luminol, a substance that can identify a trace of blood that has been diluted 10,000 times.

An interview with Trevor demonstrates his frustration at trying to prove his innocence. He added: “The seven months that Joy and I had together was just out of this world.”

An interview with Detective Chief Inspector Kimball Edey, from the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, showed that McKenzie’s motive for killing Joy was simple – she wanted what Joy had. She went to Joy’s that morning with the sole intention of killing her so that she could get Trevor back.

A forensic expert described the murder as “one of the most brutal I have seen in 20 years.”

Killer in My Village is a series by Avalon Distribution that examines crimes that have occurred in small towns and villages in Britain. The series covers a range of crimes, from execution murders to crimes of passion.