Killer who took police to shallow grave guilty of mother-of-two’s manslaughter

A labourer has been found guilty of killing a mother-of-two whose remains were found buried in woodland five weeks after a police search of his flat failed to find her body.

Mohammed Durnion was caught on police body-worn cameras as he feigned a mental health crisis and falsely claimed his father had cancer – minutes after the killing and around an hour before officers failed to discover the body of Reanne Coulson hidden under a mattress.

Jurors at Warwick Crown Court cleared the 42-year-old of murder but convicted him of manslaughter by a majority 11-1 verdict on Tuesday after hearing how he used petrol to set part of the victim’s corpse on fire.

Durnion, of Paynes Lane, Coventry, showed no obvious reaction in the dock as the verdict was returned.

Jurors had been instructed to find Durnion guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter if they believed he had not intended to cause really serious bodily harm to Ms Coulson.

He claimed the 33-year-old died from a drugs overdose on the night of May 21 last year, when he had taken “stupid amounts” of cocaine and panicked, before burying her body in woodland five miles from his home.

Prosecutors alleged that Ms Coulson had been attacked and strangled, causing her death.

Jurors also convicted Durnion’s friend and fellow ground worker Adam Moore of assisting an offender on May 22 by helping in the disposal of Ms Coulson’s body in Binley Woods.

Moore, 39, of Marlcroft, Willenhall, Coventry, had denied the charge, claiming he attended the woods simply to look for Durnion.

Footage of Durnion taking officers to the grave, near a bridleway, and speaking to two officers outside his flat, was issued by West Midlands Police after he was found guilty.

Video was also released of a subsequent search by police, involving the use of a mobile phone as a torch, which did not uncover the victim’s body hidden in a bedroom.

On the footage filmed in woodland on June 27 last year, Durnion can be seen pointing towards undergrowth, telling police “she is under there” and saying the body is “deep enough”.

Durnion initially refused to answer police questions after his arrest on June 24, but took officers to the makeshift grave after being shown footage of a media appeal made by his victim’s relatives.

A three-week trial heard police were sent to Durnion’s flat after a 999 call made by a neighbour who heard the victim, a sex worker who was known to take drugs, shouting for help.

Durnion could give no explanation at his trial for severe neck and head injuries suffered by Ms Coulson, who was 5ft 1ins and weighed less than nine stone.

He was seen by a witness smirking while carrying a suitcase he had used to move the body, and went on a drugs binge before his arrest.

Opening the case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Timothy Cray KC said Ms Coulson disappeared on May 21 last year after attending a support group at a Catholic Church where she appeared to be well.

About an hour or so later, Mr Cray said, Durnion’s neighbour heard a woman “screaming in fear” and dialled 999 at 11.26pm.

The court heard police searched Durnion’s address in the early hours of the following day, after he had left the property.

Mr Cray said: “We say that the timing and circumstances suggest that this was a deliberate attack by a powerfully built man, on a vulnerable and defenceless woman who he had taken back to his address.

“One of the circumstances to look at is how long they had been together in the flat. The evidence is that the attack began within a minute of the defendant arriving at the flat around 11.22pm.

Mr Cray added: “The police did not find her body because he hid her and then he threw the uniformed officers off the scent.

“We suggest that he was acting and knew exactly what he was doing, which was to cover up the fact that he had killed Reanne and hidden her body inside his flat.”

Detective Inspector Nigel Box, of West Midlands Police, said of the victim’s relatives: “The family are understandably mortified and heartbroken, and they have been ever since finding out what happened to Reanne.

“We have supported them as best as we possibly can throughout the investigation, throughout the court process.

“We’re heartbroken for them. Reanne was a mother, she was an auntie, she was a sister, she was a daughter, and our heart goes out to the family.”

West Midlands Police said a review of the circumstances around the search of the premises was carried out by its Professional Standards Department.

In a statement the force said: “No misconduct was identified although some opportunities for learning were identified and implemented.

“We informed Reanne’s family of the review and expressed our regret we were not able to find her on the May 21. We have liaised with Reanne’s family throughout the investigation into her death.”

Both defendants will be sentenced on Thursday.

Durnion is believed to have met Ms Coulson by chance shortly after she left the support group.

He told police he had asked her to buy drugs for him and that there was no sexual contact between them.

A post-mortem examination failed to ascertain Ms Coulson’s cause of death, but in the opinion of the pathologist her head and neck injuries had been caused when she was still alive.

Burn injuries had been caused after her death, the court heard, as if “someone had tried to destroy that part of her body or maybe her identity.”

Commenting on the killing, Giovanni D’Alessandro, a senior crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was an act that cruelly cut short the life of an innocent woman.

“Mohammed Durnion killed Reanne and then tried to dispose of her body to escape justice and Adam Moore helped him do it. At no point did either of them show remorse or take accountability for what they had done.

“Instead, they forced Reanne’s family to sit through a trial and relive every detail of what happened to her.

“The Crown Prosecution Service worked closely with police to build a compelling case, including CCTV, phone records, witness testimony, and forensic evidence, that left the jury in no doubt of both defendants’ guilt.

“Our thoughts are with Reanne’s family who have shown immense courage and dignity throughout this process. We hope today’s verdicts bring some sense of justice to them.”