Uncle cried out ‘No!’ as he spotted girl’s body in brook

AN UNCLE who spotted the body of his missing niece lying face down in a pool of water screamed “No!” as he realised what he had found, a court has heard.

Keeley Bunker was discovered by Jason Brown on September 19 last year, hours after she was reported missing.

The 20-year-old had celebrated her birthday days earlier and was due to attend a job interview later that day, but never arrived, Stafford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The prosecution alleged Ms Bunker, who was just 4ft 11in tall and weighed six and a half stone, was killed by “trusted” friend Wesley Streete, who tried to hide her body with branches. There was evidence she had been strangled.

Streete, 20, of no fixed abode, has denied the rape and murder of Ms Bunker after telling the victim’s best friend he would walk her home safely.

Prosecutors allege he told “lie after lie”, claiming she was still alive when they parted ways.

Searches were mounted by friends, family and police as concern mounted for Keeley’s welfare.

That evening her uncle decided to search Wigginton Park, Tamworth, Staffs, after a rucksack was discovered at about 6am on the morning his niece disappeared.

Shortly after 9pm, Mr Brown,

Accused...Wesley Streete denies killing his friend Keeley Bunker, top

using a torch to navigate darkness, searched a brook tunnel at the park’s edge.

Jacob Hallam QC, prosecuting, said: “When he got towards the edge of the park he tried to look into that tunnel.

“The angle was difficult, and he found it was taking time for his eyes to adjust to the limited light.

“As he was waiting for that adjustment to happen, his eyes fell the and on the brook itself.And in it he saw something red that was partially submerged under the dark water, hidden under a large number of branches. He shone his torch at the object, trying to understand what he had seen.

“After a few moments, he spotted dark, matted hair in the pool, and the glint of a bracelet on an arm that was beneath the water.

“He began to scream ‘No!’, because he knew what he was looking at was the body of his niece. He had found Keeley.”

An off-duty police officer who had joined the search checked for a pulse and found none, while there were signs of rigor mortis, indicating Ms Bunker had been dead for some hours.

Streete was arrested later that night, his clothes freshly laundered and his shoes still wet.

He had fresh scratches on his face, but claimed they were caused while “play-fighting with his dog”.

Streete is also accused of two other counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and a charge of sexual activity with a child, against three other victims, said to have happened in previous years.

He denies wrongdoing and trial continues. the