Woman and boy, 16, battered pensioner to death before stuffing body in a TV box
A woman and a teenage boy who battered a pensioner to death before stuffing his body in a TV box are facing life in jail.
Antoinette Sheppard, 44, and the 16-year-old boy killed Michael Brady, 74, before hiding his remains in a garden shed in Coventry on June 18.
A court heard how Sheppard befriended Mr Brady and lured him to her home on Bowness Close after the pair hatched a plot to kill him.
CCTV showed Mr Brady entering the address shortly after 6pm and at the same time messages were exchanged between the defendants discussing robbing him.
Mr Brady suffered blunt force injuries as a result of being attacked with ‘a sharp instrument’ and was also strangled during the brutal attack.
After killing Mr Brady, the pair put his body in a large TV box, before dragging his body in a box to a shed.
Sheppard and the boy then stole Mr Brady’s bank card, where they took it to a nearby shop and withdrew more than £300 to buy alcohol.
When they arrived, they searched the shed, found Mr Brady’s body, and arrested Sheppard on suspicion of murder.
The teenage boy phoned Sheppard at this time and, when officers answered, said: ‘If you want to speak to me, you’ll have to find me.’
The teenager, now 17, was later found after he told a social worker he had been asked to hide a body.
During their trial, phone messages were shown in which Sheppard and the boy discussed inflicting violence on someone.
One message from the boy read: ‘I am on one. I am going to hurt people.’
The pair, who were found guilty in court, will be sentenced at Warwickshire Justice Centre on February 9 next year.
Detective Inspector Jim Colclough, of West Midlands Police, said: ‘This was a tragic case of a vulnerable man being killed by people he thought he could trust.
‘This was a planned and pre-meditated act of violence, with messages exchanged between both defendants discussing what they were going to do.
‘Not only did they murder Mr Brady, but they were both perfectly content to try and blame each other for it.
‘We hope Mr Brady’s family will take some closure from this and that justice has been done.’
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