Kelly Anne Bates (18 May 1978 – 16 April 1996) was an English teenager who was murdered in Manchester, England at the age of 17 by her abuser, James Patterson Smith (born c. 1948).

[5] Smith, who had a history of violence and torture against former sexual partners, denied murdering Bates but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 November 1997.

[9] Approximately two years later, when she had left school, Bates moved in with Smith at his home in Furnival Road, Gorton.

[4] On 16 April 1996, Smith reported to authorities that he had accidentally killed his girlfriend during an argument in a bathtub, claiming that she had inhaled water and died following his attempts at resuscitation.

"[5] The following injuries were found on Bates' body:[3][4][5] The pathologist determined that her eyes had been removed "not less than five days and not more than three weeks before her death".

Peter Openshaw, the prosecutor in Smith's trial, said: "It was as if he deliberately disfigured her, causing her the utmost pain, distress and degradation ...

The injuries were not the result of one sudden eruption of violence; they must have been caused over a long period [and] were so extensive and so terrible that the defendant must have deliberately and systematically tortured the girl.

[5] Gillian Mezey, a consultant psychiatrist, told the court that Smith had "a severe paranoid disorder with morbid jealousy" and lived in a "distorted reality".

Sentencing him to life imprisonment, the judge, Mr. Justice Sachs, recommended that Smith serve a minimum term of 20 years.

"[4] The jury were offered professional counselling to help them deal with the distress of seeing the photographs of Bates' injuries and the "sickening violence" of the case.