Jail for man who hid body of dead girlfriend

A man who hid the body of his dead girlfriend in the airing cupboard of their flat in Bolton for more than a year has been jailed for four years and four months.

Forty three year old Andrew Reade wrapped the body of Vicky Cherry in a duvet and plastic sheeting after her death in October 2015 and then concealed it by placing other items on top.

The corpse remained secret until police made the grim discovery when they searched the first-floor flat in Toronto Street in January this year after her family filed a missing person report three months earlier.

The forty-four year old’s  cause of death could not be ascertained because of the heavy decomposition but a pathologist concluded she may have died as a result of strangulation as injuries to her neck were detected.

When arrested on suspicion of murder, Reade claimed he panicked after he woke to find his girlfriend dead after they had previously taken a cocktail of illicit drugs.

Sentencing him at Bolton Crown Court, Judge Timothy Clayson said the defendant could not be held responsible for the death but his behaviour that followed was inexcusable''. 

Reade went on a mission of deceit'' as he told lie after lie to Miss Cherry's family and also to police officers who twice visited the flat in November 2016.

He told them that Miss Cherry had left him to live in Blackburn with another man, the court heard.

Reade gave different accounts to others in the weeks after Miss Cherry's death when he told a mutual friend she was in hospital and falsely claimed to a pharmacist that she had moved in with her mother and even secured a job at a care home.

The defendant also cashed in employment benefits, totalling up to a thousand pounds sent to Miss Cherry in the three months after her death.

Judge Clayson told him that his conduct had prolonged her family's ordeal. 

He said: Your behaviour towards the body of Vicky Cherry and her family was callous, calculated and above all selfish.''

Reade pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to preventing a lawful and decent burial and also doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice.

Speaking after the sentencing, Vicky’s family said: “We as a family are heartbroken. No matter what sentence Reade would have been given it will never bring Vicky back.

“He stopped us for 18 months being able to have her funeral from the day she died.

“No one was able to say goodbye to her properly as we couldn't view her body and had to say goodbye to a coffin because she decomposed so much. They couldn't even give us a lock of hair.

“Despite the sentence today we will never get over this and will live with this heartache for the rest of our lives.

“We would also like to thank Greater Manchester Police for their thorough and hard work throughout the investigation.”

Detective Chief Inspector Terry Crompton of GMP’s Major Incident Team said: “Reade’s deliberately deceptive and misleading actions seriously obstructed the investigation into how Victoria died and cost us valuable opportunities to investigate.

“The strength and courage her family has shown throughout the investigation and the time in court is truly commendable.

“They have not only lost a daughter, mother, sister and friend, but been put through a tremendous amount of heartache and my only hope is that today closes that chapter in their lives so they are able to move forward while remembering the happy memories they created when Vicky was alive.”