Jamie Perkins: Two deny involvement in unsolved death

Two people have denied any involvement in the death of a man whose body was found in a stream in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Sian Thomas and Richard Roberts were among five people arrested in connection with the death of Jamie Perkins in Gilfach Goch in 2017.

An inquest at Pontypridd Coronor's Court heard claims that Mr Roberts said police "hadn't looked far enough" in a freezer for the body.

Mr Perkins' decomposed body was found partially submerged in a stream.

He had suffered injuries including three fractures to his skull, 10 broken ribs and a fracture to the hyoid bone in the neck, an injury which can occur during strangulation.

No-one has been charged with the death.

Ms Thomas was arrested on suspicion of murder along with her partner Carl Webber, Mr Roberts, Brian Rees and Haley Selby after the body as found on 1 November 2017.

The court heard Ms Selby told police that Ms Thomas said Mr Webber held Mr Perkins in a headlock and shouted to her to hit him over the head with a wheelbrace. Ms Thomas denied saying that.

Counsel to the inquiry Anna Midgley also said another witness - Rhian Rees - told police Ms Thomas had talked about the death and how it was possible to destroy evidence with bleach. Ms Thomas denied having that conversation.

A witness told police she saw two men and a woman with a car in the entrance to Bog Lane on the evening of 18 October. Ms Thomas said she had never been to Bog Lane with Mr Webber.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr Perkins was 8 October after a party at home of Ms Thomas and Mr Webber on Heol y Mynydd in Gilfach Goch.

A week later Ms Thomas had a head-on collision with another car and was given a courtesy car while repairs took place.

Ms Midgley asked Ms Thomas: "You were asked by police if you deliberately crashed your car because it had been involved in moving Jamie's body. Did you use your car to move Jamie's body?

Ms Thomas replied, "No, it wasn't deliberate. It was an accident."

On Wednesday the inquest heard another witness told police that Richard Roberts, another of the five arrested, said officers "didn't look far enough into the freezer" when searching for the missing man at Ms Thomas' home.

In a statement to police read out to the court, Mr Roberts' cousin Kate Browning claimed he told her the body had been in Ms Thomas's car for two days.

Mr Roberts said: "There's no way I said it. I never talked to her about it. The whole family like making stories up."

Mr Roberts said he had a history of drug use and suffered memory loss and blackouts after taking drugs.

He said he and Mr Webber had taken Mr Perkins back to the Waterton Hotel in Tonyrefail, where he was staying following his release from prison a few days earlier, after the party.

He said Mr Perkins was "out of his head" after taking amphetamine "speed" drugs, which he had given to him, and never saw him again.

When asked if he said that because he knew something had happened to Mr Perkins and wanted to distance himself from it, Mr Roberts refused to answer.

Senior Coroner Grahame Hughes said under inquest rules Mr Roberts was "not obliged to answer" his questions, and he would not "think ill" of Mr Roberts or draw and adverse inference if he refused to answer.

Under the laws governing coroner's courts, rules state: "No witness at an inquest is obliged to answer any question tending to incriminate him or her."

Asked in the court if he knew who did dump Mr Perkins' body, Mr Roberts replied: "I couldn't tell you, I don't know."

Of the other people arrested in 2017, Mr Rees has since died and Ms Selby is not well enough to give evidence to the inquest, which is continuing.