A chef who died after being injected with drugs during a chemsex session after meeting a man on Grindr was found wrapped in bedding and plastic sheets in a park by schoolchildren.
Selfish Neil Cuckson had tried to hide the death of Hiran Chauhan , who died after a sex session during which he was injected with GHB and crystal meth.
A judge slammed – year-old Cuckson, who tried to “save his own skin” with his desperate and bungling attempts to hide Hiran’s death, leaving the body in his flat for days and spending hundreds on equipment in a panicked cover-up.
He even purchased a car specifically to transport the body and dumped Hiran in woodland when he could not get his corpse into the vehicle, MEN reports.
Cuckson told police “I’m not a murderer, I’ve had as life” but Judge Judge Alan Conrad QC told him his actions had “added greatly to the grief” of Hiran’s family.
The judge jailed Northern Ireland-born Cuckson for six years at Manchester Crown Court.
Cuckson, a Tesco worker, woke in the morning to find 46 – year-old Hiran dead after a chemsex session having met him on gay dating app Grindr.
Hiran who cooked at El Capo restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, got an Uber to Cuckson’s flat in Salford in the early hours.
Cuckson admitted they both took GHB together and had consensual sex, before he injected Hiran and later himself with crystal meth.
He chose to not alert police, but instead slept on the floor for multiple days while Hiran’s body remained on the bed.
Cuckson continued to go to work at Tesco in Manchester city center, until he decided to buy a car from Gumtree to remove Hiran’s body.
After moving Hiran from his third floor flat to his new Suzuki, Cuc kson realized he couldn’t lift Hiran’s body into the car.
He then decided to bury him in the park opposite his flat.
Almost a week later, schoolchildren discovered the body wrapped in bedding and plastic sheets.
Hiran’s family ‘will never know exactly how, and in what circumstances’ he died (Image: PA)
Hiran’s disappearance sparked a huge missing person’s appeal, and made the front page of the Manchester Evening News.
His distressed family traveling from around the country to assist with the appeal, after Hiran was reported missing when he did turn up for work.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the family had an ‘ unbearable ‘week between him going missing and his body being found.
While being interviewed by police, Cuckson said: “I didn’t kill him, I didn’ t mean to, I’m not a murderer I’ve had as life. “
Sentencing, Judge Conrad told Cuckson:” To save your own skin, and to thwart a police investigation, you embarked on an elaborate plan to dispose of his body. “
Cuckson pleaded guilty to administering a poison or noxious substance so as to endanger life, perverting the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial, supplying class A drug crystal meth, supplying class C drug GBH.
The court heard that after leaving work after 30 pm on July 2 last year, Hiran and a colleague had gone to eat at McDonald’s before getting the tram home.
He even bought a car , a wheelbarrow and a shovel but failed to get Hiran’s body in his car (Image: Facebook)
That was the last time he was seen alive by friends or family, prosecutor Michael Lavery said.
Police later found that on the same evening, Cuckson had already seen one man who he met through Grindr for chemsex at his flat.
The man, referred to as ‘Dave’ in court, arrived at about 9pm and left at around . am. Cuckson injected him with drugs three times, and they had sex.
At 32 am, Hiran spoke to Cuckson on Grindr, and they discussed meeting at Cuckson’s flat and taking drugs.
Cuckson said he would send an Uber to pick up Hiran, to take him to his flat on Eccles Old Road in Salford.
Hiran arrived at 1. (am.)
Prosecutors can only rely on what Cuckson told them to describe what happened after.
Cuckson said Hiran appeared to be ‘naive’ about drugs, saying he did not know slang terms.
He told police that after waking up the following morning, he later realized Hiran was dead and began to panic.
Cuckson said he had tried to do CPR, and noticed that Hiran had vomi ted.
Schoolchildren found Hiran’s body ‘ covered in flies’ (Image: PA)
He did not call the police because he was still high from the drugs, Cuckson said.
Despite what happened, Cuckson carried on going to work at Tesco.
At one point he went to Bolton to buy a wheelbarrow to move the body, which he did actually use. He also bought a shovel.
He bought a Suzuki car online from Gumtree for £ 615, to use to remove Hiran’s body.
Meanwhile, concerns were raised after Hiran failed to turn up for work on July 3 and 4, as he had been expected to do.
At 9. pm on July 4, Hiran was reported missing by his family.
CCTV later recovered showed that on July 8, before 2am, Cuckson tried to move Hiran’s body.
He could not get the body into the car, so took it to some woodland opposite his flat.
On the morning of July 9, a woman came across two 30 – year-old schoolboys who had gathered around a ‘package’ covered in plastic which they said was ‘full of flies’.
She called the police. She also noticed Cuckson, who was stood with his Tesco jacket on looking at it, as were others.
She said that the man did look shocked, and Found it strange that he did interact with any of the other onlookers.
Hiran’s body was recovered, and his bank card was found in one of his pockets.
He was later identified by his mother from his tattoos, one of which had numbers which referred to her date of birth.
That night , at about 9. (pm, police became aware of a man acting suspiciously, who turned out to be Cuckson.
He appeared to hesitate when he saw police, and changed the direction in which he had been walking.
He was also wearing the same distinctive clothing which he had been seen in on CCTV previously.
Cuckson ‘somewhat reluctantly’ allowed officers into his flat.
Officers noticed a ‘pungent smell’ and saw there was no bedding on the bed.
When asked about his movements, Cuckson said he had been to a sauna in the Northern Quarter but it had been closed.
After officers told Cuckson they would check his alibi with his employe rs, Cuckson became ‘visibly unsteady on his feet’ and began to sweat and said he thought he might faint.
He was initially arrested on suspicion of murder.
While being taken to a police station, Cuckson made ‘unsolicited’ comments to the officers.
He said: “He overdosed that’s what happened, I didn’t kill him.
He added:” He just overdosed, that’s what’s happened. I fell asleep and woke up the next morning and he was still asleep beside me.
“I slapped him and I realized he was breathing and I tried resuscitating him. I thought about phoning the police but I just panicked.
“I don’t know why, just there was vomit all over the bedding.”
The usual toxicology tests conducted by pathologists to conduct investigations into how people have died proved inconclusive, because Hiran’s body was decomposed.
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Judge Conrad said: “Toxicology vital to this case was frustrated. That has added greatly to the grief of his family.
“They will never know exactly how, and in what circumstances Hiran Chauhan, whom they loved so much, actually died.”
The judge said that substantial public resources had been used during the investigation.
Defending, Michael James said Cuckson, a retail manager, is sorry for what he did.
Mr James said Cuckson became stuck in a ‘bizarre situation’ because of the decisions he made.
He said Cuckson co-operated with the police after he was arrested, and helped officers retrieve Hiran’s phone from some bushes in the city center where he had dumped it.
Mr James said Cuckson realises he ‘can never apologise enough’, but that he has shown ‘real remorse’.
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