Man who kept friend's body in freezer for two years jailed

A man who kept his friend's body in a freezer for two years has been jailed.

Damion Johnson, 53, had known John Wainwright for 27 years and lived with him at a flat in Birmingham.

The pair had a "strong friendship" and when Mr Wainwright, 71, died, Derby Crown Court was told Johnson had been "overcome by grief".

The defendant was jailed for two years after previously admitting preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body and three counts of fraud.

Prosecutor Darron Whitehead said he "was not ready to let go".

The pair moved into their shared flat in 2015 and Johnson was Mr Wainwright's registered carer.

The older man died in September 2018, but his body was not found until August 2020 when it was discovered in the freezer on the premises of a skip company.

Mr Whitehead said the pair had lived at Cleveland Tower, Holloway Head, in Birmingham city centre, and Johnson had described Mr Wainwright as a father figure to him

The prosecutor said Johnson had not been "thinking rationally" after his friend's death and added: "As time passed, he had been unable to inform the authorities."

Johnson ordered a chest freezer, the court was told, measuring approximately two feet by three feet, costing £462, but told relatives and friends Mr Wainwright had died and the funeral had already taken place.

He did not inform the emergency services nor obtain a death certificate.

The body was discovered after Johnson was arrested for other matters in December 2019 and the flat was boarded up. The freezer containing the body was left inside but unplugged.

Several people later went to the flat to conduct safety checks and noted a strong smell, but the freezer was taken away by removal workers in August 2020, who assumed the smell was rotting food.

The body was eventually found by staff at Budget Skips Services Ltd in Exhall, Warwickshire.

A post-mortem examination noted signs of blunt force trauma, but could not conclude how Mr Wainwright died.

The court was told Johnson, recently of Sun Street, Derby, had used his former flat-mate's bank account after his death.

Raglan Ashton, mitigating, said the pair had had an "informal agreement" that they would still be able to access funds in a joint account, even after either of their deaths.

Judge Shaun Smith KC said preventing a burial was an "unusual offence" but he was "not suggesting at all" the defendant had any involvement in Mr Wainwright's death.

"Had you accepted his death and gone about it in a normal way, he would have received a good and decent burial," the judge said.

"That was not what you did. You bought a chest freezer, a deliberate act on your part. You knew what you were going to do.

"Everything you did facilitated the hiding of that body. Nothing you did contributed to it being found."

The judge added preventing the burial of Mr Wainwright was "an offence which is so serious that the only appropriate punishment can be achieved by immediate custody."

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