Father and daughter convicted of murder and body disposal in West Bromwich canal

John Anslow, 65, was found guilty of murdering Chereiss Bailey, whose body was dumped in a West Bromwich canal. His daughter Hayley-Marie Ferguson, 42, was convicted of assisting an offender.

West Bromwich murder: father convicted after body moved by wheelchair and submerged in canal

John Anslow, 65, has been found guilty of murdering Chereiss Bailey, whose body was subsequently dumped in a canal in West Bromwich, BBC News reports. His daughter, Hayley-Marie Ferguson, 42, was convicted of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful and decent burial following a three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Bailey was last seen alive on the afternoon of 27 September last year. CCTV footage showed her entering Anslow's home on Stour Street in West Bromwich after the pair met on Great Bridge Street, West Midlands Police said. Her body was recovered on 7 October from a waterway off Ryders Green Road, known locally as "eight locks".

Prosecutor Michael Duck KC told the court on the opening day of the trial that Bailey was a vulnerable woman who lived alone in Tipton and had been leading "something of a chaotic lifestyle". She had occasionally worked as a sex worker in the area, Duck said.

While the precise sequence of events inside Anslow's property could not be established with certainty, the evidence indicated he had attacked Bailey in his bedroom. "During that attack she sustained a number of facial fractures, bruising to many parts of her body [and] was ultimately strangled and very likely bitten to intimate parts of her body," Duck told the court.

The assault led to Bailey's death. The following morning, Anslow cancelled his community carers and contacted Ferguson for assistance, police said. Ferguson travelled to her father's address by taxi, bringing paving slabs and claiming she was helping him with his garden.

In the early hours of 29 September, the pair were captured on CCTV moving Bailey's body using Anslow's distinctive wheelchair — which he used as a result of a disability. They then submerged the body in the canal, securing it with a washing line weighted down with the paving slabs, according to West Midlands Police.

Anslow had denied the murder charge but was found guilty by the jury. He had previously pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful and decent burial. Ferguson was convicted on both the assisting an offender charge and that same burial offence. Both are due to be sentenced at a later date.

In a tribute released following the verdict, Bailey's family described her as "a much-loved daughter, sister, mother, auntie, granddaughter and friend." They said she had "a huge personality, a beautiful heart and a way of making her presence known wherever she went."

The family added that "her little boy had been robbed of growing up with his mum beside him," but said they would ensure he grew up knowing "how much she adored him."

Source: BBC News