Jailed for 23 years, killer who murdered disabled sister and kept her body
A WOMAN who murdered her disabled sister and left her body to rot in the family home for weeks was yesterday jailed for a minimum of 23 years.
Sharon Greenop died after a long campaign of cruelty and neglect at the hands of her sibling, Lynnette.
The killer continued to claim her victim’s £1,560 a month benefits payment – and a carer’s allowance.
Lynnette Greenop, 40, burned scented candles to hide the smell of her sister’s body and turned away visitors.
Sharon’s body was found in November 2016 – several weeks after her death – after a neighbour reported a stench from the property in Troon, Ayrshire.
When police turned up they were told Sharon was ‘sleeping’.
Greenop denied killing her sister during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow but was yesterday found guilty of murder.
Judge Lady Carmichael jailed her for at least 23 years and said Greenop had subjected her sister to ‘weeks of pain and fear’.
A murder charge against Sharon’s daughter, Shayla Greenop, 20, was found not proven. The court heard Sharon was assaulted a number of times between September and November 2016.
She was bludgeoned with ‘object or objects’, choked and injured ‘by means unknown’.
The jury heard Sharon was left to die in ‘extreme pain’.
A pathologist said she may have lain dead for several weeks. But Greenop continued to bank Sharon’s benefits of £390 a week and a weekly £62 carer’s allowance.
The alarm was raised by nextdoor neighbour Philip Martin, who noticed a rancid smell in one of his bedrooms in October 2016.
Sharon was later found dead. She had suffered 19 rib fractures and serious injuries to her neck.
Her father, Derek Greenop, 72, said Sharon had a black eye in August 2016. The retired baker said she had admitted to him: ‘Lynnette hit me.’
Pathologist Gemma Kemp told the court: ‘With the distribution and different ages [of the fractures] these were caused by inflicted trauma... not accidental, a deliberate act.’
A former neighbour, Martin Hamilton, confronted Greenop after learning about the court indictment. Lynnette told him: ‘Aye, I did it... aye, I did it.’
Sharon was registered as disabled after a spinal injury in 2009. Carers had provided support until her sister moved in soon after.
Her other sister, Diane Hogg, 43, told the court she had become concerned about the ‘dirty’ home.
Greenop, described as ‘aggressive, overbearing, confrontational and troublesome’, showed no emotion as she was found guilty.
The case against Shayla centred on claims that she had acted ‘in concert’ with her killer aunt.
It was said she searched online for details about serial killers such as Peter Tobin. Other searches were said to include: ‘What does a dead body smell like?’
Neither woman gave evidence during the trial.