Teen ‘killed mum then put body in wheelie bin’
Accused, 17, denies claims at murder retrial
A TEENAGER murdered teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck before using a wheelie bin to move her body to a cemetery, a jury was told.
The mum-of-two was last seen alive shortly after 4pm on August 12 last year in Accrington, a retrial which has begun at Preston Crown Court heard.
A post-mortem examination found Lindsay, 47, died from ‘substantial’ neck injuries.
The 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies killing her and has pleaded not guilty to murder and a new charge of manslaughter. The jury heard how the defendant was seen in the area of the Coppice and Burnley Road in the hours before and after Lindsay’s disappearance with a black rucksack and pushing a blue wheelie bin.
ATEENAGER murdered teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck before using a wheelie bin to move body to a cemetery, a jury heard.
The mum-of-two was last seen alive shortly after 4pm on August 12 last year in Accrington, a retrial which has begun at Preston Crown Court heard.
Her disappearance sparked huge concern from family members who raised the alarm with police.
A large search operation was then mounted involving specialist officers and supported by members of the local community.
Prosecutor David McLachlan told the jury that “the worst fears of the community were to come true” when her body was discovered 12 days later by a dog walker at Accrington Cemetery.
Members of the public had spotted the wheelie bin in bushes at the cemetery with a ‘dark stain’ five days before Lindsay’s body was discovered on August 24 and had alerted police.
However officers believed the ‘brown mark was mud’ and said the significance of the bin was ‘not known at that stage of the investigation’.
A post-mortem examination found Lindsay, 47, died from ‘substantial’ neck injuries, not from ‘natural causes’.
The 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleads not guilty to murder and a new charge of manslaughter.
A jury of nine women and three men will hear the case which is expected to last two weeks.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr McLachlan told the court that on August 12, Lindsay had gone shopping with her daughter Sarah to The Mall in Blackburn and Asda in Accrington.
He added: “A little after 1.30pm Lindsay Birbeck dropped her daughter off.
“They arranged to meet up about 6pm that night and Lindsay says ‘love you, bye’ before driving off.”
When Sarah and her boyfriend Brandon arrived at Lindsay’s home the door was locked and they got no answer. They waited outside for around one hour but Lindsay never returned, the jury heard.
Sarah said she was worried about her mum as it was out of character for her not to be home when arrangements had been made. She sent messages and tried to call her mum but got no response.
Mr McLachlan said: “It is the prosecution case that Lindsay Birbeck was dead by this stage and that the defendant had killed her”.
Sarah later returned to Lindsay’s home with her father Tim Birbeck and a set of keys but there was no one inside.
Shortly after midnight Tim contacted the police to report his estranged wife missing. He told the operator: “My ex-wife seems to have gone missing and my daughter’s just got me up and been to her house and had a look and we can’t find her. It’s not like her”.
Lindsay left her home on Burnley Road in Huncoat at around 4pm on August 12 in the direction of the town centre.
Mr McLachlan said it was ‘not unusual as she was a keep fit enthusiast and enjoyed going for a walk and keeping her steps up’ in the Coppice area of Accrington.
Lindsay, who worked as a teaching assistant at Ightenhill School in Burnley, was last seen on CCTV wearing a purple Rab jacket, a Fitbit watch, Sketchers trainers, black leggings and a white/ blue pinstripe top.
The jury heard how the defendant was seen in the area of the Coppice and Burnley Road in the hours before and after Lindsay’s disappearance.
Mr McLachlan said the defendant, who was 16 at the time, was seen on CCTV walking up Burnley Road in Accrington at 2.27pm and turned off into the Coppice.
Mr McLachlan told the jury that Lindsay was killed ‘somewhere in the area of the Coppice, however we are unable to say exactly where she was killed’.
At 6.19pm the defendant was seen on CCTV crossing over Burnley Road from the Whitakers Arms side with his hood up, his tracksuit top partially unzipped and he appeared to have ‘wet knees’.
Around 30 minutes later he was seen emerging from brambles at the rear of Isothane Ltd on Newhouse Road and walking up Whitewell Road with a black rucksack on his back.
Mr McLachlan said he was heading back to the location ‘where he left Lindsay’s body’.
He told the jury: “He must have had something in his rucksack to assist him in some way in relation to Lindsay Birbeck’s body.”
Fifty minutes later the defendant was seen emerging from the direction of the grassed area on Burnley Road and still had the rucksack with him. He entered Accrington Cemetery before exiting through a side gate onto Whitewell Road in the direction of home.
At 8.28pm - four hours after Lindsay’s disappearance - the defendant returned to the Coppice area pulling a blue wheelie bin.
The jury heard how Anthony Dewhurst was walking up Burnley Road on the same side as the Whitakers Arms with his dog.
He saw the defendant with the wheelie bin and according to Mr Dewhurst it ‘sounded hollow’ as he was pulling it and was ‘making a rattling sound on the pavement’.
At 11.18pm the defendant entered Accrington Cemetery still carrying the rucksack but no longer had the wheelie bin.
Mr McLachlan said: “It is the prosecution case that Lindsay Birbeck was dead and that the blue wheelie bin was being used to conceal her body.”
Mr McLachlan said at 1.45pm on August 16 the defendant, with his tracksuit on and hood down, is seen on CCTV walking towards Burnley Road in Accrington. He crossed the road and walked past the Whitakers Arms in the direction of the Coppice.
At 2.13pm - 26 minutes later - the defendant was then seen walking down the side of the Whitakers Arms before entering Accrington Cemetery.
The jury were told that he walked across the grass towards the area where Lindsay Birbeck’s body would later be recovered from.
Mr McLachlan said: “The prosecution case is at that stage Lindsay’s body was in the blue wheelie bin somewhere and that the defendant was doing a dry run for what was to happen the day after.
“He went to the location of the body somewhere on the Coppice. No doubt the blue wheelie bin had been kept somewhere nearby.
“Afterwards he went to the cemetery, this being the area where the body would later be recovered from.”
On August 17 at 1.48pm the defendant was again seen walking along Whitewell Road in the direction of Burnley Road.
The defendant was seen on Burnley Road at 1.50pm on August 17 pulling a wheelie bin and it ‘appeared to be heavy’.
The prosecutor said the wheelie bin now contained Lindsay’s body and the teenager was moving her ‘from one place to another’.
Around 45 minutes later the teenager was seen pulling the wheelie bin down the side of the Whitakers Arms and across Burnley Road before entering the cemetery.
At 3.50pm he was seen leaving the cemetery without the wheelie bin.
The defendant was then seen returning to the cemetery again on August 19, 23 and 24.
Mr McLachlan said the bin used to move Lindsay’s body was first spotted in bushes at Accrington Cemetery by off-road biker Daniel Westwell on August 19 - five days before she was found.
He looked inside and the bin was ‘clean’, the jury heard.
At 9pm on August 20 Gemma Hudson, Leanne Singleton and Sarah Thistlethwaite were searching the cemetery and also spotted the bin with a ‘dark stain on the outside’.
Ms Thistlethwaite took a picture of the bin and rang the police.
Two police officers examined the bin at the scene and found a ‘brown mark’ which they believed to be ‘mud’.
The jury were told that the officers believed the bin looked ‘ brand new’ and there was ‘still no evidence to link the bin’ to Lindsay’s disappearance so ‘left the bin in situ’.
Dog walker Patricia Stevenson then approached cemetery worker Luke Hillman at 9.10am on August 21 to report another sighting of the bin.
The worker approached a police car parked on Burnley Road and an officer told him it could be moved and secured in a building at Dill Hall Cemetery.
Mr McLachlan said at about 7pm on August 24, Morgan Parkinson was out walking his dog in Accrington Cemetery off Burnley Road.
The dog ran into the wooded area and Mr Parkinson called her but she did not come.
He then moved closer and saw her ‘sniffing in the bushes at something’.
The jury heard that Mr Parkinson ‘smelt a horrible smell’.
Mr McLachlan said: “Morgan Parkinson pulled his dog away and he saw a plastic cover. He saw what appeared to be a leg.”
The jury were told that police arrived quickly at the scene.
Proceeding