Drug addict Ben Phillips convicted of hiding body after overdose
by Keith Hunt
A drug addict who supplied a
fatal dose of heroin and then left the body in a garden wrapped in
tarpaulin has been jailed for four years eight months.
Ben Phillips admitted
manslaughter by gross negligence and was convicted of perverting
the course of justice after denying that charge.
He also admitted possessing
crack cocaine and heroin for personal use.
John Allen, who admitted the
perverting charge, was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment suspended
for two years, with 12 months supervision.
Judge Philip Statman told
Phillips, of Luckhurst Lane, Smarden: "No doubt you will carry
these events with you for the rest of your life."
Maidstone Crown Court heard
Phillips, 33, "cooked up" the drug in a bedroom at his Ashford home
and passed it to Jed Little, 34, to inject.
After the fatal dose, Phillips,
33, did not call for an ambulance but with the help of Allen, 58,
of Beecholme Drive, Kennington, moved the body into the garden and
covered and left it covered.
Ian Hope, prosecuting, said
Phillips had been living with Allen’s daughter Maria in St
Theresa’s Close.
In February last year she moved
in with Robert Brewin in Orion Way, Willesbrough. All were drug
users.
Police at the scene
in St Theresa's Close, Ashford
On March 7, Phillips visited the
couple and told Miss Allen: "Jed’s dead."
Mr Brewin and Miss Allen went to
St Theresa’s Close and found the bedroom in disarray and blood on
the mattress.
John Allen was asleep at
the back of the house. The couple looked in the garden and
discovered the body under the tarpaulin.
They left and called the
police.
Mr Hope said a post mortem
examination revealed Jed, of Hythe Road, Ashford, choked to death
after overdosing on heroin.
Phillips at first claimed he
knew nothing about it. He later admitted cooking up the drug and
handing it in a syringe to Jed.
A couple of hours later, Allen
went into the bedroom and Phillips told him Jed had
died.
They took a plastic sheet from a
cot, wrapped it around the body and carried it downstairs. Phillips
said he did not call the police because he was scared.
He told how he went to sleep
after placing the body in the garden.
Phillips was sentenced to four
years for manslaughter and eight months consecutive for perverting
the course of justice.
14/03/12
- Click here for more news from across the county...