Hayley-Marie Ferguson, 42, allegedly helped her father John Anslow dispose of the body of Chereiss Bailey in a canal near West Bromwich and then attended a Peaky Blinders-themed event, Birmingham Crown Court has heard.
Body found in canal after disappearance
Chereiss Bailey, aged 36, was last seen alive on September 27 last year. Her remains were recovered from the canal near Ryders Green Road in West Bromwich on October 7. The court heard that Anslow, 65, is alleged to have killed Ms Bailey, described as a 'sex worker', at his home in West Bromwich before recruiting his daughter to help dispose of the body.
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC told the jury that the father and daughter dressed Ms Bailey in different clothes, placed her in Anslow's wheelchair, and pushed her to the canal bank. They then allegedly dumped her naked body in the water, weighing it down with paving slabs.
Socialising after alleged disposal
Mr Duck detailed Ferguson's actions on the evening of September 28, having allegedly helped dispose of Ms Bailey in the early hours of that morning. He said: 'She went out socialising. She went out to an event in Coventry at Planet Ice. It was a Peaky Blinders-themed event. She went with friends and a number of pictures were taken of her at that event.'
Mr Duck said the disposal of the body was a 'matter of complete indifference' to Ferguson. At around 3.30am on September 29, she posted pictures of herself 'dancing and enjoying the company of others' at the Peaky Blinders night.
Internet searches and return visits
The prosecutor told the court that Ferguson made several significant internet searches on her phone, a number of which were about whether a bite mark could be detected from a body that had been 'submerged in water'. The jury previously heard that Ms Bailey was found with bite marks to 'intimate parts of her body' as well as facial fractures, bruising and signs of strangulation.
Mr Duck said Ferguson returned to the deposition site numerous times for the 'callous reason' of ensuring Ms Bailey's body continued to be weighed down and was not visible to passers by. She was arrested after she asked a friend of her son's to remove potentially incriminating slabs from her garden, which were the same as those used to anchor Ms Bailey's body in the water.
False claims and recorded conversations
It was alleged she falsely claimed her ex-partner had 'killed a prostitute because she tried to steal money from him', when he had had no involvement in Ms Bailey's death. Mr Duck said Ferguson and her ex-partner were recorded without their knowledge while on the way to court. He stated: 'She indicated her father had been responsible for the killing and she had assisted him in disposing of the body. That is the closest thing she told to the truth in a considerable time when being asked about this investigation.'
It was further alleged that Ferguson asked her ex-partner to visit her father and get him to 'make up a false story to exonerate her'. 'Far from being the victim of someone pressuring her, she herself was capable of being manipulative in the extreme,' Mr Duck added.
Anslow, from Stour Street, West Bromwich, denies murder but has admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body. Ferguson, of Heronville Road, West Bromwich, has pleaded not guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body as well as assisting an offender. The trial continues.
