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17-year-old convicted of murdering teaching assistant after transporting her body in a wheelie bin

Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was found dead in August last year  - Lancashire Police/PA
Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was found dead in August last year - Lancashire Police/PA

A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of the murder of a teaching assistant who was found buried in a shallow grave at the back of a cemetery after he transported her body in a wheelie bin.

The body of Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was discovered wrapped in two plastic bags in Accrington Cemetery in Lancashire on August 24 last year - 12 days after she went missing.

The mother-of-two left her home in Burnley Road, Accrington, for a late afternoon walk to a nearby wooded area known as the Coppice.

She had invited her teenage daughter, Sarah, and Sarah's boyfriend for tea at 6pm but when she did not return her worried family raised the alarm.

Her attacker had been on the prowl in the woods for lone females and is thought to have killed Mrs Birbeck shortly after she entered the Coppice.

On Saturday Aug 17 the teenager was seen dragging the wheelie bin through the streets between The Coppice and the cemetery.

Mr McLachlan told the court: "Several witnesses saw a male pulling a wheelie bin. The wheelie bin appeared to be heavy.

"The prosecution case is that the reason for this is simple: the wheelie bin now contained the body of Lindsay Birbeck."

He said that Mrs Birbeck's body was found in a shallow grave and wrapped in two transparent plastic bags on Saturday, Aug 24 by a dog walker.

A postmortem found that Mrs Birbeck had died from severe neck injuries. The court was told that the teenager was interviewed by police on Aug 30 and gave a statement in which he admitted moving the body but denied any involvement with Mrs Birbeck's death.

He said: "I did not murder Lindsay Birbeck. I was not involved in her death. I was not present at the time or place of her death.

"I did move a body from an area off Burnley Road Accrington in a wheelie bin. At first I hid the body but later moved it again in a wheelie bin, taking it to the cemetery on Burnley Road where I buried it on my own.

"A man came up to me when I was walking alone in that area off Burnley Road and he asked me to 'get rid of a body ' for him.

He said that he would pay me a lot of money when everything was clear."

The jury were told that hairs found in the wheelie bin were matched to Lindsay Birbeck's DNA and a glove found at the defendant's home at an Accrington farm had traces of the victim's and the teenager's DNA.

On Wednesday, a jury at Preston Crown Court convicted the youngster of murder after deliberating for more than four hours.