Son, 42, Murders Mother, 74, and Hides Her Body in a Bedroom ‘Shrine’ for Six Weeks

A SON killed his mother and kept her body as a “shrine” in a bedroom for six weeks after he beat her to death.

Pepita Garcia, 74, was left with 76 fractures after being repeatedly beaten by Dominic Whitton, 46, for weeks until she died curled up in the corner of her room.

Pepita Garcia’s dead body was left to rot for six weeks by her son Dominic Whitton Credit: Central News Reynardson Road in Tottenham, North London Credit: Google maps

Her son then put his mother’s body on the bed, painted her nails and covered the smell with incense burners, flowers and candles.

The artist died in December 2024 but her decomposing body was not found until Whitton reported her death on January 13, 2025.

In those six weeks, Whitton used Pepita’s to book a tour of Stadium, buy a ticket to the Musical and visit .

All while still preparing food for his mum and leaving it on a tray in the room with her body.

When Whitton, of Raynardson Road in Tottenham, finally reported Pepita’s death to a “in a panic” he said she had died before .

He was found guilty of his mum’s murder and preventing the lawful and decent burial of her body in May following a trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

Steven Perian KC, prosecuting, said when officers arrived at the home in Tottenham, north London, Pepita’s body was “lying on her bed in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating that she had been dead for some time.”

She was found to have sustained around 67 fractures in the 10 weeks prior to her death, the court heard.

This includes broken bones in her nose, shoulder and neck alongside several broken ribs.

Medical evidence found a healed fracture in her neck which suggested Whitton had previously tried to strangle his mother weeks earlier.

Judge Andrew Menary KC told Whitton: “The last 10 weeks of Pepita’s life must have been miserable. She was starved, weak, struggling to breathe and would have been in constant pain.

“She sustained increasingly ferocious assaults from you, the son she loved and protected. She died on the floor in a corner of her room, alone, without any words of comfort. It was a cruel death.

“You took care to lay the body out on the bed, cover the body with a T-shirt and shorts, paint Pepita’s finger and toe nails, and lay flowers and herbs on and around the body.

“Those were not acts of concealment. The incense and candles were intended, at least in part, to conceal the stench of the decomposing body. But you also prepared food for her, which you placed on a tray in her room.

“The disturbing scene indicates that you had a sense of loss, and some remorse, alongside an inability to accept what you had done.”

Pepita was said to be a “vibrant, welcoming woman” who volunteered for a local food bank and enjoyed Spanish dancing.

Friends and had previously told of their concerns that she was being physically abused by her son, including one member of Pepita’s Buddhist group who raised the alarm in 2020.

Officers found the mother with two black eyes and bruises during a welfare check on September 18, 2024, just two months before she died.

Whitton was arrested for coercive control but given bail under the condition he stayed away from the property.

He broke this almost immediately but Pepita did not want her son to be prosecuted.

A month later, Whitton returned to the house and he fractured 17 of her ribs but denied harming his mother, instead saying the injuries were from a fall.

Judge Menary KC said Whitton had displayed “coercive and controlling behaviour towards Pepita, which escalated to the use of ever more violent and excessive force.”

The judge did accept that he suffered from paranoid, borderline and narcissistic personality disorders.

Whitton was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 24 years for murder with a concurrent three-year sentence for preventing a lawful and decent burial.

As he has been in custody for 534 days already, he must serve 22 years and 296 days before he can apply for parole and he will remain on licence for the rest of his life.

Judge Menary KC told Whitton: “You will have to live with the guilt that you killed the one person who always defended you and who loved you unconditionally: your mother.”