TEEN ‘KILLED TEACHER AND HID NAKED BODY FOR FIVE DAYS’

HORROR DEATH: Wheelie bin hid body of victim

A TEENAGER murdered a teaching assistant in woods, then stuffed her body in a wheelie bin for five days before dumping it in a shallow grave in a cemetery, a court heard.

The naked body of Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was discovered wrapped in two plastic bags at the back of Accrington Cemetery, Lancashire, on August 24 last year.

The accused claims his only involvement in the woman’s death was when he was offered money by a stranger to move her body. dragged across to the cemetery five days later.

After her body was discovered, detectives issued to the media a CCTV still of a male pulling a wheelie bin and the defendant – then 16 – voluntarily attended a police station with family members.

He admitted moving the bin and burying the body but said he was not involved in Mrs Birbeck’s death.

He said he was walking alone in the area when he was approached by a stranger who promised him “a lot of money” if he disposed of a body.

He stated: “He showed me where the body was and went away straight away, leaving me to ‘get rid of the body’.

“I have not met this man before. I have not met him since, nor have I had any contact with him. He has not paid me any money.

“He was white, male, spoke English. I could not see his face well as he was covering it with his hood.”

The teen has admitted assisting an offender, but the jury was told the Crown did not accept that plea and say he is in fact the killer.

The teenager denies both murder and manslaughter.