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High-rise building in Birmingham: "Not rationally thought"
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Pond5 Images / IMAGO
The prison sentence is two years: A 53-year-old man from Birmingham in Great Britain, who kept the body of a 71-year-old man in a freezer for almost two years, must now go to prison. Damion J. was convicted on Tuesday after admitting to preventing the lawful burial of the body, according to British media reports. In addition, there were three cases of fraud: According to the court, the convicted person accessed the deceased's bank account several times.
According to the information, the two men knew each other for a period of 27 years and moved into a shared apartment in a high-rise building in Birmingham in 2015. One witness described the relationship between the two as a "strong friendship." The younger of the two was also the officially registered caregiver of the older .
In September 2018, the roommate, who was 71 years old at the time, finally died. According to media reports, it was no longer possible to determine why, because the body was not found in a freezer until almost two years later: The defendant was briefly imprisoned for another offense in 2019 and, according to the tabloid »Daily Mail«, moved in with his brother after his release. He had boarded up his apartment, the freezer had not been connected to the electricity - so the body thawed and began to smell until the freezer was opened in August 2020 due to the smell.
According to the Daily Mail, the prosecutor said, citing the autopsy, that the dead man apparently had a broken neck and was missing five teeth, which could be signs of "blunt force trauma in the mouth." However, a natural cause of death cannot be ruled out – the body is simply too decomposed to determine this with certainty.
After the discovery of the body, the defendant justified himself to the police by saying that he was "overwhelmed by grief," it said. He had not thought rationally and had not been willing to let go of the dead man, the prosecutor reported on the alleged motives.
£20,000 stolen from account
However, there are some circumstances that do not seem to fit into the defendant's narrative: According to the statements, he ordered the freezer only after his roommate had died. In addition, over the course of the two years, J. stole almost 20,000 British pounds from the deceased's account instead of informing the authorities of the man's death. On the other hand, he had told friends and relatives that the roommate had died – but the funeral had already taken place.
The British media reports do not say whether the convicted man can still appeal. However, the judge is quoted as saying, "This is an offense so serious that the only appropriate punishment is immediate detention."
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