Couple 'murdered woman and then dumped her body in bin before claiming her benefits' – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

A couple murdered a woman before dumping her body in a communal bin and fraudulently claiming her benefits, a court heard.

Kevin Flanagan, 39, and Kathleen Salmond, 40, are both accused of murdering Lisa Bennett in the Weoley Castle area of ​​Birmingham.

Flanagan, from Kings Norton, Birmingham, and Salmond, from Hogde Hill, also in Birmingham, who is largely confined to a wheelchair, are also charged with fraud a nd preventing burial.

They murdered 39 – year-old Ms Bennett on or about May 9, 2013 before hiding her body in a bin which was then incinerated with other waste, jurors

Jurors heard the couple then texted Ms Bennett’s mother pretending to be her daughter and Salmond contacted the Department of Work and Pensions, also pretending to be Ms Bennett, telling them to paying the benefits into her account.

Simon Denison QC, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court, said: ‘The defendants murdered h er and then callously disposed of her body in the communal bins opposite their flat, where it lay undiscovered before the bins were emptied and the contents were taken to the council waste disposal facility a few days later.

‘There, her body was incinerated with the community’s waste.’

Ms Bennett, who was living in the Selly Oak area of ​​Birmingham but originally from Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was reported missing by her mother in May 2013.

She was homeless and stayed with whoever would put her up.

She was dependent on a cocktail of prescription medications and a daily dose of Subutex – a heroin substitute.

She received around £ 100 disability living allowance each week and £ 230 employment and support allowance each fortnight.

The court heard that on Friday, May 9 she failed to collect her prescription from Lloyds pharmacy in Selly Oak.

At the time she was living with Salmond and Flanagan at their flat in Weoley Castle.

Mr Denison said: ‘On that afternoon, a text message was sent by someone pretending to be Lisa to her mother Janet Bennett.

‘That someone pretending to be Lisa was Kevin Flanagan.

‘Janet Bennett realized from the way it was written it was not from her daughter, but someone pretending to be her.

‘On May 13, 2013, Kathleen Salmond made a phone call to the benefits office at DWP.

‘She also pretended to be Lisa Bennett.

‘ In that call she arranged for Lisa benefits to be paid into her bank account.

‘A few days later, Kevin Flanagan sent two further messages to Lisa’s mother pretending to be Lisa to make her believe that nothing had happened and Lisa was alive.

‘The two defendants reaped the benefits of Lisa’s disappearance by withdrawing Lisa’s benefit money from Kathleen Salmond’s account and spending it on themselves.

‘When the police eventually came to question them about what happened to Lisa, they each said calmly that she was alive and well, that she had asked them to transfer her benefits into Miss Salmond’s account and to withdraw it for her, and that her new boyfriend, who they called Ian, would collect it each week for her.

‘They were lying. ‘Lisa Bennett was dead and her new boyfriend didn’t exist.

‘ She died in their flat on or around May 9, 2013. Her body has never been found and she has no grave. ‘

The trial continues.