Three found guilty of murder in Ipswich
They'll be sentenced in May
Last updated 20th Mar 2021
Three people have been found guilty of murder after the death of an Ipswich man in the summer of 2018.
Joe Pooley, aged 22, from the town, was found around 10.30am on Monday 13 August 2018 in the River Gipping near to London Road, Ipswich.
Two men and a woman were convicted at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (19 March) of killing Mr Pooley. The jury found three of the four defendants guilty with majority verdicts following a trial, which started on 12 October 2020.
The verdicts were:
35-year-old Sebastian Smith (previously known as Luke Greenland) of Ramsay Road in Hawick, Roxburghshire was found guilty of murder
31-year-old Sean Palmer of South Market Road in Great Yarmouth was found guilty of murder
30-year-old, Rebecca (Becki) West-Davidson (previously known as Rebecca Shevlin) of Roper Court in Ipswich was found guilty of murder
26-year-old, Lisa-Marie Smith of Ramsay Road in Hawick, Roxburghshire was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
Joe, aged 22, was a vulnerable adult, and needed the support of his family and social care. Mr Pooley knew all four defendants as they were part of the same extended social network.
Joe was reported missing to police on Friday 10 August and on Monday 13 August his body was discovered in a still part of river by a member of the public around 1030am.
A post-mortem examination carried out on 14 August 2018 determined that the likely cause of Joe Pooley's death was immersion in water.
Police had begun an investigation into the circumstances of the unexplained death and following initial enquiries, a murder investigation was launched, led by the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team. After a lengthy and complex investigation detectives concluded that Joe Pooley had been unlawfully killed in the early hours of 7 August 2018. This led to all four defendants being charged with murder, having acted together as part of a joint enterprise to cause Mr Pooley really serious harm or death.
Sean Palmer and Becki West-Davidson were first arrested on 2 October 2018 on suspicion of murder and both subsequently released. Sebastian Smith and Lisa-Marie Smith were both first arrested on suspicion of murder on 17 January 2019 before being released. Over the course of the next eight months the investigation continued with further interviews occurring. On 30 October 2019 Sebastian Smith was charged with murder. The following day Sean Palmer, Becki West-Davidson and Lisa-Marie Smith were also charged with murder. All four were remanded into custody.
Sentencing of the four defendants will take place on 24 May 2021.