The Misery Machine - The Horrific Case of Tracey Woodford

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

This week, Drewby and Yergy head across the pond to Pontypridd, South Wales, to discuss the case of Tracey Woodford, a quiet woman from Rhydyfelin who was brutally murdered, sexually assaulted post-mortem, and dismembered in April of 2015. Her killer, Christopher May, a 50-year-old former butcher, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 28 years. On April 21st, 2015, Tracey met Christopher at the Skinny Dog pub. The two left the pub together at closing time and walked toward Christopher's flat in the Graig area. When Tracey failed to return home and could not be reached, her family reported her missing. Three days later, on April 24th, police officers conducting routine inquiries visited May's flat. Upon searching the property, they discovered a horrific scene...Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachineJoin Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachineOfficial Merch Store: https://miserymachine-shop.fourthwall.com/Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcast#documentary #themiserymachine #truecrime 🚨 EDUCATIONAL, DOCUMENTARY, SCIENTIFIC, OR ARTISTIC CONTENT DISCLAIMER 🚨CONTENT WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT A SENSITIVE TOPIC INVOLVING LOSS OF LIFE. WE'VE REMOVED ANY GRAPHIC CONTENT TO COMPLY WITH YOUTUBE'S GUIDELINES. WE AIM TO PROVIDE INFORMATIVE, FACTUAL JOURNALISM ON A TRAGIC EVENT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST THAT DOES NOT DISMISS ITS SERIOUSNESS. ALL CLIPS ARE USED UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF FAIR USE FOR NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSIS.Fair Use Disclaimer: "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."THE CONTENT IN THIS VIDEO IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, BASED ON BELIEVED RELIABLE SOURCES. THEY MAY NOT BE CURRENT OR FULLY ACCURATE. VIEWERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH AND NOT SOLELY RELY ON THIS INFORMATION. WE'RE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INACCURACIES OR OMISSIONS. WE DO NOT CONDONE, ENDORSE, OR ENCOURAGE ANY OF THE BEHAVIORS OR ACTIVITIES SHOWN. WE URGE EVERYONE TO ALWAYS ACT RESPONSIBLY AND WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW.

Tracy Woodford was born on February 13, 1968 to mother Linda Woodford and grew up in a village just outside Ponti Preet in South Wales. She was Linda's oldest child. When West Jet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jet welcomes you on board.

Here's to West Jetting since 96. travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. She had a brother named Sean Woodford and a sister named Sharon Maidman. Sharon described their relationship as close and loving. She said she saw her almost every other day. Tracy was described as slim, petite, five foot tall with shoulder length, gingerly blonde hair. The time of the events of today's story, she was 47 years old and was unemployed. According to reports, apart from collecting money at the post office, going to the

the shops and visiting local pubs. She did not go out very much. According to her siblings, Tracy was a very kind, caring, and loving person who didn't have a bad bone in her body. She wouldn't hurt a fly and was just a quiet, gentle soul. She was a devoted daughter to our mother, Linda, a wonderful sister and sister-in-law, and a great auntie to her niece and nephews. She didn't have much in the way of money or possessions, but what little she had she loved to give to the three of them or would love to buy them some sort of treat just to put a smile on their faces. That always made her so happy. That's just the type of person she was.

They also described her as very kind-hearted and a selfless person who would go out of her way to help anyone. Sharon said that her sister's life was one of a small circle. He shared that. Tracy didn't have many friends. Certainly none she could spend the night with. And she didn't have a boyfriend. Or into her mother Linda, Tracy led a simple life which revolved

around her family. She was happy doing her crosswords and wouldn't have hurt a fly. Now, usually at this point, I would tag in Yergi, but she's still really sick and lost her voice, so it's going to be all me today. I feel like I've had a higher number of people than normal message or leave a comment that they've been having a rough time these past couple of weeks. So if this sounds like you, then stick with me and let's try to give you a break from that for the next 15 minutes or so. Just give me a little grace because I'm on the men too. Let's get back to the story. Now, unfortunately, Tracy would meet a very terrible man on April 21st, 2015.

And his name was Christopher Nigel May. He was 50 years old and lived alone in a flat in Andrew's court on Rickard Street in the gray area of Ponny Preet. He had moved in during 2013. Christopher was a father of two. His first job was in a butcher's shop where he worked for around 18 years. A man named Barry Hayman worked alongside him, and it was Christopher who taught him the trade. Barry said the tools they used were hacksawers, choppers, and knives. After the butcher's shop, Christopher drove a taxi.

April of 2015, he was working at the Grill Steakhouse in Ponipreed under a chef manager named Charlotte Lewis. Christopher had a criminal record going back to when he was just 14 years old, where he committed burglary in 1982. In 1995, he set fire to a school. When firefighters got inside the building, they found him sitting at the piano, playing it, while the fire burned all around him, as if he was Nero allegedly playing the Lear during the Great Fire of Rome. He was sentenced to 18 months for that. In 2005, and then again in 2010, Christopher was arrested for drunk driving. He was a regular at the skinny dog pub and Pontipreed for two or three years, and he said he would often put away six to eight pints of Newcastle brown ale.

in a session. He would later testify that he became a heavy drinker and lived what he called a hermit-like existence after splitting up with his long-term girlfriend who went on to remove herself from this earth in 2010 while they were together. The people who drank with him and lived around him gave two very different accounts. Cheryl Davies lived two flats below him and had known him for 20 years. She let him use her internet connection and claimed she jokingly told him not to look at anything dodgy. When asked whether Christopher was the kind of person who would help you out if you helped him, she said, yes, I trusted him.

He had never once behaved inappropriately towards her. Mark Hunt used to captain the pool team at the Merlin Pub. He called Christopher not the brightest spark and said, he seemed like a nice guy, obviously a bit wayward, but nothing untoward you would put your finger on. He was quite a nice chap, polite and well-mannered. Can't remember him having a girlfriend. and whenever he was in the Merlin, he would be on his own.

But there seemed nothing aggressive or violent about him. He would socialize to the best of his ability with us, and there seemed nothing harmful about him. But then there was Dave. Dave was an ex-drinking buddy who spoke to reporters and asked to be identified by only his first name. He had known Christopher for about three years. He was drinking with him the night before Christopher met Tracy.

According to Dave, Christopher was good company right up until women came into the situation. He said, Chris would sit down and talk to them and they would get up and walk off. I saw that a few times. He said Christopher leched over women, that he would take notice of any woman who would pay him attention. He said, he never really spoke about his likes or dislikes. It was all about women. He would talk about football, about boxing, whatever was on TV, and other men stuff. but it was mainly women.

Dave also said Christopher made things up. He said he was a bit of a liar in some ways because sometimes I would see him in the street and he'd say he had a date that night, but I would see him later on. He wouldn't be with anyone. He'd make up stories just to be normal, I suppose. Dave described two specific things, Christopher said in pubs.

The first involved a young woman in a short dress after a game of pool. Dave said Christopher came out with something like she could have it. When Dave told him, shouldn't talk that way to women, Christopher answered, it doesn't matter. She's gagging for it. The second were comments he made in a pub

during an 18th birthday party at several girls. Dave later said, it was the inappropriate things to women which gave me and would give anyone concern. There is one more thing Dave remembered about the events of today's story. A murder had been on the news and the two of them had been talking about it.

Dave said, he said it would be easy to kill someone that if you want to get to, get rid of them, there's a knack to doing it. I thought nothing of it, but when all this came out, I even wondered whether he had done it before. Sirius Richards was 19 years old and worked behind the bar at the skinny dog. She later testified about two separate conversations with Christopher in the weeks before the events of today's story. The first was on a Saturday earlier that month. Siris said, he was ordering his drink and made me come close to his face, which made me uncomfortable.

He was telling me about his love for redheads and that we were perfect people. The second was on April 16th when Cirrus came into the pub to check her work schedule. Christopher approached her again, she said. He started talking to me about his love of redheads, how we were perfect and good in bed, which quite offended me. Then he asked to look at her fingers. She said through tears, I hesitantly put my hand out and he grabbed hold of my fingers. He seemed disgusted by the way I had my fingers, and he said,

should look after them better, and he was stroking my fingers. It upset me and disturbed me that he was saying these strange things to someone who was young enough to be his daughter. Sharon had last seen her sister Tracy on Monday, April 21st, 2015. Sean saw her the following morning. He said she came downstairs into the kitchen and had a cup of tea and toast. She used to go into Pondy-Preetown Center once a week to do some shopping. He spoke about a ring she was going to collect from cash generator. She left the house at about a quarter to one. It was the last time her family saw her. She collected the ring and then she started drinking. Two bars in town, Tumbling and Alfred's, turned her away because she could not stay steady on her feet. Around a quarter to eight in the evening,

Tracy walked into the skinny dog and the bar refused to serve her. Martender Rebecca Williams said that Tracy seemed nervous and almost fragile when she came in. Christopher was already in the pub with two friends, Daniel Marshman and Tony Haney. He said he first noticed Tracy in the smoking area before she came over and joined their table. One of the bar staff later said the men were merry in about six to eight pints in. According to the bartender, one conversation started between Tracy and Christopher's group. Do you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad?

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At some point, Christopher offered her his coat, and somebody in the pub raised the idea of Tracy going home with them if they bought her more drinks. She said she was not that kind of girl. The group left the skinny dog at 1120. Around 1130, CCTV picked up the two of them walking towards his flat, which was about 500 yards from the pub. She still had his coat on. What happened between leaving the pub and two in the morning comes almost entirely from Christopher's account.

He told the court they had a kiss and a cuddle under a bridge on the way. He said that back at the flat they had cider, he had a pint, he had a half, and that he put on a Westlife song called Flying Without Wings. When his laptop was later examined, it was confirmed that someone had been using it and played that very song on YouTube,

but then that person used it to watch adult films. Michael Ellie lived in the flat directly below Christopher. At around 220 in the morning, he was awoken by a loud thud from the bedroom above him. He said it was followed by footsteps out of, the bedroom into the living room and back again. He said, I thought Mr. May had fallen over drunk. He decided not to check on it, not thinking it to be too suspicious at the time.

Michael's wife, Gail, heard it as well. She said, it sounded like something heavy hitting the floor. She said she heard one pair of footsteps moving quickly. Neither of them claimed to have heard a struggle or anyone shouting above them. One part of this story that was not in dispute was the fact that, that in the early hours of Wednesday, April 22nd, Christopher May strangled Tracy Woodford in his flat in Andrews Court. What nobody agreed on was the order of what came next.

The sequence that follows is the prosecution's case, and it is the one that the jury accepted. The cause of death was pressure on Tracy's neck. Male DNA was found on her body, DNA that matched Christopher. her. After killing her, Christopher watched adult films online until six in the morning. Then he began cutting her apart. What follows is his own account of it. He started in the kitchen with a knife and moved into the bathroom. He said, I tried to clean up the body, but that just made it worse. Used a knife, a saw, and a pair of pruning shears. A pair of scissors was also recovered from the apartment.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen James found a slash running down tree. Tracy's chest to her groin, he said. This had clearly been made while the torso was intact. Section of bowel about four inches long was flushed down the toilet, which subsequently clogged the drain. At some point in the hours that followed, Christopher put Tracy's head into a pound-stretcher carrier bag and carried it out of the flat and across Pontypreed on foot to a storm drain at the Sardis Road ground home of the Pontypreed Rugby Football Club.

Wednesday the 22nd Christopher saw his neighbor Cheryl Davies. He told her he had been carrying a fence post to his sister's house and was, in his words, Nackard. While Christopher was telling his neighbor about a fence post, Tracy's family were trying to find her. Sharon ran into their mother, Linda out shopping, and Linda asked whether or not Tracy had stayed the night at Sharon's. She had not. Sharon said, we began to worry because if she didn't stay at mom, or mine, we didn't know where she was.

Said she tried to call Tracy constantly over the following days. Sean called to over and over and kept getting the answering machine. Ian Linda contacted the police and reported Tracy missing. On Thursday the 23rd, Christopher went into work at the steakhouse with scratches on his face. Charlotte Lewis later testified that he had scratch marks on his face, said he was building a wall for his parents and had bought a poll from B&Q and when he was carrying it home, it hit him on the head. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but when I got home, I thought it didn't make sense. After all this came out, I really thought about it. Charlotte also

testified that Christopher had been hardworking and reliable, and that he had never behaved inappropriately towards her. Barstaff at the skinny dog told police that Tracy had left the pub with Christopher. On Friday, April 24th, Sergeant Stuart Williams and police constable Craig Gardner paid a visit to Christopher's flat. Christopher had already spoken to Sergeant Williams on the phone that day and lied about where Tracy had gone. He asked if the officers could come back later. Instead, they came back five minutes afterwards. The first thing they noticed was the smell. Sergeant Williams said the flat smelled like spoiled meat. Christopher told them he had last seen Tracy walking along Wood Road. According to Christopher, she had told him to piss off after he tried to grope her under a railway bridge,

was the end of it. Officers asked to search the flat. As they moved toward the bathroom, Christopher told them there was nothing in there. The officers pulled back the shower curtain. Tracy's arms and legs were in the shower tray. Her feet were still in her socks. Beside them were the pruning shears, the knife, and the saw. Sergeant Williams was very shocked. He said, I closed the curtain and double check to confirm what I saw. I could not believe my eyes. I described it as if someone cut up a mannequin and placed it in the shower tray. Constable Gardner was moved to tears, he said, I thought I was watching a horror movie. I've been in the police force for 11 years. I've never had to deal with anything like this before.

Sergeant Williams arrested Christopher. He said, I told Mr. May he was under arrest on suspicion of murder. He said, I know. Officers asked him where the rest of Tracy was. He answered, some is in the cupboard and some in the storm drain at Pontipreed RFC. A forensic team went through the flat. Tracy's torso with the head removed was inside a black bag in the cupboard. Part of her rib cage was inside a black Adidas sports bag. In the bedroom, they found a plastic bag, the Adidas bag and a woman's handbag. Inside the handbag was Tracy's purse, with her bank cards still in it.

Inside the purse was the end of her right thumb. Four of her fingers had been put in the handbag. Forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen James was called to the flat that same day. He said, I could smell decomposition, and I could smell bleach when I went inside. The following day, two officers went into the storm drain at Sardis Road. Going to attorney Roger Thomas, the officers entered the tube, and as they walked down the tunnel, the first thing they immediately noticed is that it's absolutely pitch black if you have no form of lighting. There was running water.

They walked 138 meters, and the pipe later opened into an underground chamber. He continued, there was quite a heavy flow of water coming from the left-hand side. The officer turned his head to the right, and he saw a human head lying on its side. On a ledge a meter or so from the bottom of the chamber, he could see there was a red bag with something in it. The officers came back out. Two hours later, they returned to film the chamber and recover what was in it.

The red bag was an Iceland carrier bag. Inside it was Tracy's lower torso. Her pelvic organs were still in place. Her abdominal organs were gone. According to Attorney Thomas, the officer was able to see the head was wet from the spray or water and was laying on its right side. There were slashing marks across Tracy's face.

Dr. James later counted seven bruises on it. Later testified that her head was well preserved. Tracy's internal organs have never. been found. Christopher May was charged with murder and appeared in the magistrate's court at the end of April 2015. Officers interviewed him five times. They told him his statement did not explain Tracy's last moments or her death or what he had done to her body afterwards. They asked him about a blood print in his bathroom and about the missing body parts. Then they asked him outright whether he was responsible for killing and dismembering Tracy Woodford. His answer over and over was, I'd like to

stick to my statement. The trial opened at Cardiff Crown Court on the 10th of November 2015 before Mrs. Justice Nicola Davis and lasted two weeks. Attorney Roger Thomas prosecuted while Attorney Malcolm Bishop led the defense, with Attorney Hugh Evans handling much of the cross-examination. Attorney Thomas opened the trial saying the defendant admits his actions were responsible in causing her death, but disputes his conduct amounts to murder. Prosecution submits, quite simply, this was a deliberate, brutal, vicious, and sexually motivated murder. Forensic pathologist Dr. James went over the findings on the third day. On the bruising, he said, she did not have a mixture of old and new bruises.

Almost all of them were fresh. He added, these were not from a person repeatedly falling. They were in places you would not get from a fall. On the dismemberment, he shared that, it appears that some skill or knowledge has been applied during the dismemberment. I would expect the perpetrator to have experience in the use of not. and the cutting up of either humans or animals. Attorney Thomas told the jury that the crown utterly rejected the suggestion that the encounter

was consensual. Of Tracy's head being placed inside the drain, he said, one does have to consider what this involved. The defendant carrying a body part and a human head across Pontipreed into a dark tunnel walking in for 138 meters. Most significantly, he removed the head from whatever it was being contained in. What was the purpose of displaying the head in that manner on a ledge? He had ample time to do a number of things with it,

at the very least bury it or put it in the dense foliage. Why would a man behave in this way with a woman's head? It is a very strange thing to have done to put a head in this location. The fifth day of the trial Christopher took the stand himself. He said he had not been attracted to Tracy at first and then suddenly was. He said, I think I asked her to come back to mine and she agreed. read. For what purpose? For six. He described what he said happened the next morning, saying,

I woke up and saw Tracy standing by my bed. She had my wallet in her hands. She was looking inside. I said to her, what are you doing, you thieving bitch? She then came at me flailing her arms. I lost control and do not really know what happened. The next thing I remember, Tracy was dead. He said he then felt sick and that he was frightened of being arrested, said, I thought if I had cut it up, and I could hide it. Attorney Bishop asked his client whether he had ever fantasized about dead bodies or was turned on by violence. Christopher answered no.

Described his love life as normal. Told the court he had no recollection of viewing any adult material that night. He said he had not planned to put the body parts down the drain. He said he was disgusted with himself and did not expect anyone to forgive him. He also claimed that Tracy had called one of his relatives a slag. Attorney Bishop said to the jury, All the witnesses who knew the defendant had nothing but good to say about him. How can you reconcile the friendly, helpful guy with the picture painted by the prosecution?

Attorney Thomas closed by calling Christopher a determined, ruthless, sexual predator. Said Christopher had told packs of lies and that the claims of self-defense and loss of control were nonsense. Justice Davies set the question for the jury. The issue for you to decide is whether this was, as the prosecution alleges, a brutal sexually motivated murder by a sexually motivated predator on a fragile woman. The alternative, she said, was that Christopher had acted in lawful self-defense when Tracy came at him with flailing arms. The jury returned a verdict in under an hour.

Guilty. People in the public gallery shouted, as Christopher sat expressionless. The hearing on the 19th, both sides put a number to the court. attorney Thomas asked for a minimum term of 25 years he said the crown submit there are disturbing features about the way this man dismembers the body but cuts off and retains the fingers the defense asked for 15 years told the court there was no evidence of sadistic conduct he said this was an unplanned meeting leading to a flash of anger with catastrophic results on friday november 20th 2015 chrisfer nigel may was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years, three years longer than the crown had asked for. Tracy's family who had sat through the whole trial cried out as it was passed, just as Davies told him, your murder of Tracy Woodford was cruel, callous, and determined. These same characteristics prompted you to dismember the body of Tracy and then deliberately conceal it. This was done for one reason, to avoid detection for the murder

you knew you had committed. You embarked on this with little thought for your victim and still less for that of her family whose grief for their daughter and sister was made more anguished by the grim dismemberment of her body. Tracy's family spoke twice that afternoon. The first statement was short. They read, No words can begin to explain what Christopher May has done to our family. His action on that night in April, and over the following days with what he did to Tracy's body has destroyed us all. We simply cannot understand how anyone could treat another human being in this way. Tracy's siblings, Sean and Sharon, stood outside Cardiff, Crown, court and read a longer statement. It read, the thoughts and visions of what he did to Tracy have

haunted us every day for the last seven months and is something we will never get over. Our mother has nightmares most nights, waking up and screaming and crying out Tracy's name, asking, why would he do this to her? You see the devastation in each other's eyes and know the hurt that the other is feeling and know that we are helpless to stop the pain. He didn't just kill Tracy that night. He killed a part of us all. The fact that he didn't, admit his guilt at the earliest opportunity and instead put us through the trial has only increased our pain. Having to sit in a court a few feet away from him and listen to all the graphic details of what he did to her body and how he disposed of certain body parts in the storm drain

was almost too painful to listen to, but it was something we, as her brother and sister, felt we had to do to honor our sister and show her the respect that he had total disregard for. Christopher May is still serving his sentence as of the date of this recording. record gives his parole eligibility date as November 13, 2043. He will be 78 years old if he survives that long. We want to leave you with a memory of Tracy, but here is what we could not find. There's no published obituary and no memorial page. Nobody has recorded where the funeral was held or when.

What we do know is that her family got her back. That is what Sean and Sharon thanked the police for. the conviction, but for the chance to bury their beloved sister. Linda told the court she had been taking medication to help her sleep and that she did not go out much anymore. She said, I wake up in the morning and the first thing I think of is Tracy. Every day I just get by. I am surviving. And that is the pain a surviving family member has to go through that you don't see.

Maybe you might see it in the clips on the news of them going through. grief in that moment, but what you don't see is the day after day after day that it stays with them. On April 27th, five days after Tracy died, Linda went to the mortuary to see her daughter. She could see bruises on Tracy's face, she said, I thought, what person would do something like this? What did he do to her? I stood over her crying. I didn't know what to do or say. I kissed her on the forehead and then I had to leave the room. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes.

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