'I've had a really rough day' - West Midlands man who killed mother-of-two tells police in bodycam footage before lying about father's cancer
Watch the moment the man who killed a mother-of-two in the West Midlands told police he was having 'a rough day' and lying about his dad's illness in police bodycam footage.
Mohammed Durnion was caught on police body-worn cameras as he feigned a mental health crisis and falsely claimed his father had cancer – minutes after the killing and around an hour before officers failed to discover the body of Reanne Coulson hidden under a mattress.
In the clip, he is seen answering the door on May 21 last year, appearing panicked and flustered as he says, “Please, I’ve had a really rough day.”
He gestures to rubbish scattered across the floor of his flat, saying “look at my house,” and pleads, “please go away, you can’t come in here.”
When officers enter, they can be heard walking over glass and other debris covering the floor. Inside, the flat appears in disarray, with unmade beds, piles of clothes and upturned furniture.
Durnion killed Reanne Coulson in the flat, claiming her body had been hidden under a mattress while police carried out their search. Footage released by West Midlands Police after his conviction also shows him speaking to officers outside the property and later leading them to a grave near a bridleway.
In a separate video of the earlier search, officers use a mobile phone as a torch but fail to find the body concealed in a bedroom.
Further footage, filmed in woodland on June 27 last year, shows Durnion pointing to undergrowth and telling police, “she is under there,” adding that the body is “deep enough.”
Jurors at Warwick Crown Court acquitted the 42-year-old man of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter by an 11–1 majority on Tuesday, after hearing he used petrol to burn part of the victim’s body.
Durnion, from Paynes Lane in Coventry, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was delivered. Jurors were told they could return a manslaughter verdict if they believed he did not intend to cause serious harm to Ms Coulson.
He claimed the 33-year-old died from a cocaine overdose on May 21 last year, saying he had taken “stupid amounts” of the drug, panicked, and buried her body in woodland five miles from his home. Prosecutors, however, argued that Ms Coulson had been attacked and strangled, leading to her death. Read more about the court case here.
Jurors also convicted Durnion’s friend and fellow ground worker Adam Moore of assisting an offender on May 22 by helping in the disposal of Ms Coulson’s body in Binley Woods.
Both defendants are due to be sentenced today (March 26).