Translated material
Passed by
37-year-old Natalie Shotter from London suffered from postpartum depression and hardly left the house. In July 2021, she decided to meet with friends. That day, Shotter looked happy: she smiled and danced to the music of street musicians. And the next morning her body was found on a bench in the middle of the park. Read what happened that night in the weekly true-crime column “Cold.”
The woman left the house to take a break from the children, and in the morning her body was found on a park bench. The police did not immediately understand what happened to her
On the morning of July 17, 2021, 60-year-old Cas Shotter Whitman, a senior nurse in the cardiology department of the London Clinic, received a call from the police.
The officer reported that at 5:42 a.m. that day in west London, a passer-by discovered a woman lying lifeless on a bench in the middle of Southall Park. She turned out to be Cas's daughter, 37-year-old Natalie Shotter, who worked as an administrator at a local clinic. Doctors who arrived at the park recorded her death.
As it turned out later, on the eve of July 16, 2021, Shotter decided to take a break from household chores for the first time in a long time, asked her loved ones to look after the children, and she went for a walk with friends.
Presumably, Shotter died of suffocation, but doctors were unable to determine the cause: her heart was healthy, and other organs were healthy too. Alcohol and “poppers” - substances taken to relax or increase sexual pleasure - were found in large quantities in the blood. However, the pathologist concluded that they could not lead to death. The reason remained undetermined.
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"The most beautiful baby"
According to her mother, Natalie was a creative person and wanted to become an actress as a child. At first she went to a Catholic school, but there she showed acting talent and later transferred to a school with a theatrical focus. At age 12, Natalie worked as an understudy in a West End theater and appeared in a Heinz television commercial . She later attended the London School of Performing Arts and Technology, where she studied acting .
“Nat was the most beautiful baby and an amazing child. She loved to spend time outdoors, especially going to the beach and swimming,” the mother of the deceased told The Guardian journalists. “When I tried to tell her that she needed to read Shakespeare to study for exams, she would just act stupid in response. She was very creative, loved to draw with paints and pencils, and was never afraid to laugh at herself.”
According to her mother, Natalie could “give her last pound to anyone who needed it.” After studying, she changed her mind about being an actress and decided to help people: she went to work for British charities to fight heart disease and help people with dementia, and after that she got a job as an administrator at a clinic. Then she got married and gave birth to two sons.
Natalie gave birth to her third child, daughter Naomi, in 2019 and has struggled with postpartum depression ever since. Self-isolation during the pandemic only worsened her condition.
Shortly before her death, Natalie complained to the doctor that if she drank, she lost her memory and fell into a deep sleep.
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Camera in the park
Investigators showed Cas Shotter CCTV footage of her daughter's final hours.
She saw that on the day of her death, Natalie was walking a few kilometers from her home and looked happy. The cameras filmed her dancing to the music of a street drummer with other passersby, and in the evening of the same day she met a man. They went to Southall Park where they sat on a bench, drank alcohol and took poppers.
Closer to midnight, Natalie began to feel ill. At 23:56 she lay down on the bench and lost consciousness. The man went looking for help. At the exit from the park, he met two police officers and told them what had happened, but they replied that they were busy and could not help. They advised calling 101 - in the UK it is used when there is no threat to human life or health. At 00:05 the man approached Natalie again, but soon left the park.
At 00:16 another man approached the bench. He passed by repeatedly while Natalie was talking with a new acquaintance, and came closer when she was alone. The camera footage shows how the man pulled his shorts down to the ground and orally raped Natalie. He left her at 00:32, returned at 00:48 and left completely three minutes later. Natalie's body lay motionless until the morning, when it was discovered by a random passerby.
"I am her voice"
The whole family was worried about Natalie's death, but her mother was most involved in the police investigation. Seeing what happened to her daughter in the last minutes of her life was very difficult for her. “I experienced an incredible shock. I was simply heartbroken,” she told reporters.
She and her daughter were very close : once a week Natalie met with her parents to have lunch together.
“She was going through a really difficult phase and was extremely vulnerable,” Natalie’s mother said . According to her, Natalie planned to go to a psychologist in the coming days.
The mother demanded police find the man on camera to “get answers.” “If you can’t do this, I’ll go out myself and look for him in buses and shops,” she threatened .
Several weeks later, police found the man. He turned out to be 32-year-old Mohamed Iidov - he had already been convicted of attempting to seduce minors on the Internet. After the rape, Shotter Iidov headed home, where his wife and children were waiting for him, stopping at a store along the way to buy mouthwash and cat food.
On August 4, police arrested him. At first Iidov refused to answer questions. He then tried to prove that it was consensual sex. At the same time, Iidov constantly changed his testimony : he either said that he paid Shotter 10 or 20 pounds, or claimed that she was already dead. Although Iidov's DNA was found on Natalie's body, they could not prove his guilt in the murder - the cause of death remained unknown.
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The results of the investigation did not satisfy Natalie's mother. She stubbornly insisted that her daughter did not die a natural death. “Nat has no voice. I am her voice. “I will not stop fighting for justice,” she said . “If Nat knew what I was doing, I’m sure she would say, ‘Thank you, Mom.’” Two months later, police agreed to conduct a second autopsy.
Unexpected results
For the second time, pathologists established the cause of death: Natalie’s heart stopped due to Café coronary syndrome. This is the name for sudden blockage of the upper respiratory tract, which in most cases can lead to death from suffocation or cardiac arrest. This almost always occurs while swallowing food - however, Natalie's death was caused by Iidov's actions.
On October 2, 2024, the trial of Iidov, who was accused of rape and manslaughter, began . Prosecutor Alison Morgan pointed out to the court that CCTV footage showed Natalie making “no obvious movements” for half an hour before Iidov approached her. During the rape, she could barely move and was “deeply unconscious”, so she could not give consent.
“He wouldn’t have sex with a dead body for more than 15 minutes. He had sex with a man who he knew was alive but in a deep unconscious state. That’s why he raped her,” the prosecutor said .
Cas Shotter Whitman came to the trial and tried to meet the eyes of her daughter's killer. Father Iidov was also in the hall. Every time the camera footage was turned on, he could not stand it and went out into the hall.
The jury found Iidov guilty—Natalie’s loved ones had been waiting for this for more than three years. “We are glad that justice was served for Nat,” Shotter’s mother said after the trial ended. “Our family is pleased with the jury’s decision.”
Iidov faces a “long prison sentence.” The final verdict will be handed down on December 13. For both rape and manslaughter he faces a sentence of up to "life", but under British law a life sentence does not always mean that a person will spend his entire life in prison. Typically, the convicted person serves a minimum sentence, most often around 15 years, after which he remains under lifelong supervision. If he commits a new crime, he is returned to prison.
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Author: "Cold" editors