Man accused of murdering Crufts dog breeder in Lichfield killed himself in prison, inquest finds

An Argentinian man accused of murdering a Crufts dog breeder killed himself a day before he was due to appear in court, an inquest has found.

Alex Verdu Munoz, 26, was accused of the murder of 68-year-old Valerie Freer at her home in the village of Whittington, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, in February 2022.

His body was discovered at HMP Manchester on the morning of May 15 2022, an inquest in Manchester heard.

He was due to appear at crown court on May 16 by prison videolink to face the murder allegation plus offences of aggravated burglary, burglary, possession of a bladed article and dangerous driving.

A jury at Manchester Coroner’s Court recorded a conclusion of suicide on Wednesday.

Jurors were told it was not known whether Munoz intended to enter guilty or not guilty pleas at the hearing on May 16.

He was arrested and charged on March 11 and remanded to HMP Dovegate near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, before he was transferred to HMP Manchester six days later.

The court was told he arrived on crutches with a broken leg after he was involved in a traffic collision during his arrest.

Munoz told prison staff he sustained the injury as he was “making his escape”.

He was on suicide watch at HMP Manchester and was moved to another prison wing after he received verbal abuse from inmates, the inquest heard.

The hearing, which began on Monday, was told he was not deemed a high risk of suicide but was subject to extra observations due to the nature of his offence, because it was his first time in prison and because he had no family support as a foreign national.

HM Assistant Coroner for Manchester, Andrew Bridgman, was told a post-mortem examination concluded the medical cause of death was hanging.

Found in his cell was a handwritten note to his family in which he asked for forgiveness for “all the bad I have done”.

The jury was told to consider its conclusions “without any prejudice in respect of Alex’s alleged crimes”.

They found the verbal abuse he received in prison was a possible contribution to his death.

The inquest heard HMP Manchester, also known as Strangeways, accepted Munoz should have been allocated a key worker but there were not enough staff.

The lack of a key worker possibly contributed to his death, jurors found.

The inquest was told he had travelled to the UK on a number of occasions, with his last trip in February 2022, but had no contacts in the country.

His sister, Madeleine Munoz, followed proceedings remotely from Argentina.

Concluding the hearing, the coroner apologised for the length of time it had taken for the inquest to come to a full hearing and offered his condolences to the family, saying the death must have been a “tremendous shock”.

Mrs Freer was found with neck injuries and her hands bound with cable ties on the drive of her home on the morning of February 24.

An inquest held in Staffordshire in December 2022 was told she was stabbed 16 times, and a coroner ruled she was unlawfully killed.

Munoz had reportedly rented Airbnb accommodation in Whittington and his hire car was seen in the area of Mrs Freer’s home around the time of death.

A knife which had her blood on it, along with lock-picking items, were found when police searched the vehicle.

In 2014, one of Mrs Freer’s dogs, a Samoyed named Dan The Man, was runner-up in the Best in Show category at Crufts.

– The Samaritans can be contacted by calling free on 116 123, emailing [email protected], or visiting samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.