Mohammed Durnion, 42, was led into a woodland in Binley Woods while handcuffed, and pointed to an area before telling police he had buried mum-of-two Reanne Coulson with a shovel
A handcuffed killer took police to a remote patch of woodland where he buried a mum after strangling her to death, telling officers she’s “under there.”
Mohammed Durnion, 42, killed mum-of-two Reanne Coulson in his Coventry flat on May 21 last year before burying her body in a shallow grave in Binley Woods. He was convicted of manslaughter but cleared of murder at Warwick Crown Court today.
The court was told Durnion took around 30 minutes to dig a hole in undergrowth at Binley Woods, on the outskirts of Coventry, and set her body on fire before covering it over with earth and leaves.
In police bodycam footage, Durnion was seen being led into the woodland in handcuffs before being asked by officers, “She’s buried? How deep?” He replied: “Deep enough,” telling them he used a shovel to dig the hole for Reanne’s body.
Jurors at Warwick Crown Court deliberated for more than 10 hours over four days before clearing Durnion of murder but finding him guilty of manslaughter by a majority 11-1 verdict.
The panel also convicted his co-defendant and friend Adam Moore, 39, by an 11-1 verdict of assisting an offender by helping in the disposal of Reanne Coulson’s body a day after she was strangled. Durnion stared at the floor and remained calm in the dock as the verdicts were returned.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Durnion launched a sudden and deliberate attack on Reanne, killing her, before faking a mental health crisis when police arrived.
Reanne was heard screaming and crying for help by a neighbour who had called 999 weeks before she was found, the court heard. Police carried out a search of the flat, but couldn’t find Reanne’s body, which Durnion later claimed he had hidden under a mattress.
Durnion told the court that Reanne had died from an apparent overdose after the pair had an argument at his flat on Paynes Lane.
He said he was afraid of being blamed for her death, so put her in a suitcase and drove her the woodland. The 42-year-old will be sentenced at a later date.
Reanne’s older brother Ashley previously thanked the public for helping find Reanne and asked that the family be left alone to grieve.
Kirsten, Reanne’s sister, described her as being “loved by many” and said it was “out of the ordinary” for her to not return home. “Reanne is not only my sister but my twin sister, a mother, a daughter and an aunt,” she said.
