Girlfriend denies ‘body in bin’ murder of Bacup man

By the time police found Shaun Corey, 42, of Rossendale, his body was so badly decomposed police could not establish a cause of death.

Karen Otmani, 42, was also seeing other men including Bernard Beddoe, 60, but killed Mr Corey after drugging and restraining him, it is claimed.

Beddoe helped her put the body in the bin where it was left to rot, the Old Bailey trial was told.

The court heard the couple had a son together but the relationship was 'tempestuous and inconsistent.'

'She killed Shaun Corey by strangling or suffocating him at her flat in south east London,' said prosecutor Bobbie Cheema.

'It happened at a time when the relationship was faltering. She was clearly unsatisfied. She believed he has been unfaithful.

'Bernard Beddoe assisted her in the killing and in the preparations she made to try and hide the body of the man who died.'

Otmani had met another boyfriend Keith Jones on a dating website and told him she wanted to kill Mr Corey.

'Karen Otmani had considered various ways in which he could get rid of her ex partner in the months before June 2011,' said Ms Cheema.

'She first referred to the possibility of killing Mr Corey when he would not leave her flat in May 2011.

'Her initial idea was to knock out Shaun and then friends of hers would take Shaun away to a remote place.'

Otmani hoped that Mr Corey would wake up feeling 'confused and disorientated' and would never return.

Then Otmani gave Mr Jones some blue liquid in a plastic bag which she said would make render those who drank it unconscious and asked him to test it.

Mr Jones later told police that, on June 8, Otmani had taken him to her room and asked him whether he could smell anything before pointing to a stack of boxes covered in blankets.

Ms Cheema said: "Karen Otmani then pointed out a protruding bump on one of the boxes and said to him 'He's in there'.

"She said she'd measured her freezer but it was too small and she needed to get another freezer."

Jurors heard Otmani told Mr Jones that she had drugged Mr Corey's beer, taken him downstairs to her room and tied him to the bed.

When he started to wake up she placed a plastic bag over his head, the court was told, while Beddoe was in the room.

Ms Cheema said: "She held the bag over his head, pulling it as tight as she could until he breathed his final breath."

Mr Jones said Otmani had asked him to take the box away and bury it in his garden. He refused and eventually contacted the police who found the body in the bin, sealed around the top with a thick layer of adhesive.

The court heard Otmani told officers: "I killed him. He freaked me out and I killed him."

A young boy heard the murder in the flat in Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, on the morning of June 4 last year, the court heard.

The two accused killers and Mr Corey were arguing with each other in Otmani's bedroom, the jury was told.

'After hearing further shouting between the three people who were now in Otmani's bedroom, the noise stopped,' said Miss Cheema.

'That was the end of it. Both defendants stayed downstairs of a bit longer. They both then returned upstairs and made drinks in the kitchen.'

The boy was told that Mr Corey was asleep because he was 'very, very tired.'

'After that the boy heard no more sounds from Shaun. Later he was told that Shaun had left and he never saw Shaun again,' Miss Cheema said.

'He did notice that Shaun's car was still parked near the house. He was worried that Shaun never returned for the car.'

Miss Cheema added: 'Shaun Corey died at the hands of these two defendants some time on the 4th in that flat having been drugged and restrained the night before.'

It was not until June 15 that the body of Mr Corey, who was born and raised in Bacup and has family still living in the area, was found at the flat, wrapped in a tarpaulin in the bin.

Beddoe, of Revelon Road, Brockley and Otmani both deny murder.

Beddoe further denies assisting Otmani to hide the body.

(Proceeding)