A MUM was found buried in woodland five weeks after neighbours heard screams coming from her alleged killer’s home, a court heard.
Police were scrambled to Mohammed Durnion’s home on May 21 last year after Reanne Coulson, 33, was allegedly heard “screaming in fear”.
Warwick Crown Court heard police searched the property but did not find Reanne’s body, which is believed to have been hidden under a mattress.
Tragically she was discovered partially clothed five weeks later buried in a shallow grave in woodland near Coventry.
Prosecutor Timothy Cray KC said: “There was a strong smell of petrol and there were visible burn and soot injuries to the side of Reanne’s face and body.
“The subsequent post-mortem examination found marks of injury to Reanne’s head and neck.
“In the opinion of the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem, the head and neck injuries – bruising and the like – had been caused when Reanne was still alive.
“In contrast, the burn injuries to Reanne’s face and side had been caused after her death, as if someone had tried to destroy that part of her body, or maybe her identity.”
Jurors heard Reanne was last seen chatting to staff at a support group at St Mary’s and St Benedict’s Church before she vanished.
At around 11.26pm, the neighbour called 999 and police arrived 12 minutes later, it was said.
Mr Cray said there was an “element of horror” in that Durnion allegedly hid Reanne’s body under the mattress to cover his tracks.
He then faked a “mental health or drug crisis” when police arrived to “throw the officers off the scent”, the prosecutor said.
Mr Cray added: “[Durnion] agrees that he was the last person to see Reanne alive and also agrees that he buried her body in the woods.
“His case, which will be developed and explained by his counsel, is that he picked up Reanne that Wednesday evening and gave her money to buy drugs.
“He picked her up believing she was a sex worker but says that there was no sexual contact between them that night.”
Jurors were told Durnion claims Reanne became sick and appeared to have overdosed in his bedroom.
Fearing that he would be held responsible for her death he said he put her body in a suitcase, drove to Binley Woods and then buried her.
Mr Cray said: “The prosecution case, put simply, is that that explanation is not true.
“Specifically, we say Durnion can’t or won’t face up to the central fact that he killed Reanne.”
He told jurors Reanne was “screaming, crying for help to the extent that the neighbour called 999” while inside the flat.
Mr Cray added: “We say that the timing and circumstances suggest that this was a deliberate attack by a powerfully-built man, on a vulnerable and defenceless woman who he had taken back to his address.
“One of the circumstances to look at is how long they had been together in the flat. The evidence is that the attack began within a minute of the defendant arriving at the flat around 11.22pm.
“Is that really long enough to take drugs, get high, start arguing and overdose, or is that timing consistent with some sort of sudden, fatal attack?
“When the police arrived… Reanne was nowhere to be seen or heard. This was because by then it must be that Reanne was incapable of calling for help.
“She was dead or dying because of Mohammed Durnion’s attack.”
The court was told Reanne’s body was found after Durnion became distressed on June 27 and told police he would take them to her.
Durnion denies murder, while his co-defendant Adam Moore, 39, denies assisting an offender on May 22 by helping dispose of Reanne’s body.
The trial continues.
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