A couple were today found guilty of drowning a homeless woman in a bath before dumping her body in a bin and claiming nearly £5,000 of her benefits.
Kevin Flanagan, 39, and Kathleen Salmond, 40, killed 39-year-old Lisa Bennett before hiding her body in a communal bin outside their flat in Weoley Castle, Birmingham in May 2013.
Days later her remains were unwittingly taken away by refuse collectors and incinerated with other waste at a council disposal plant.
After the murder, the ‘inhuman’ couple texted Ms Bennett’s mother pretending to be her daughter before pocketing her £200-a-week benefits and spending it on themselves.
Flanagan, from Kings Norton, Birmingham, and Salmond, from Hodge Hill area of the city, went on trial accused of murder last month.
Kevin Flanagan, 39, and Kathleen Salmond, 40, killed 39-year-old Lisa Bennett before hiding her body in a communal bin outside their flat in Weoley Castle, Birmingham in May 2013
Lisa Bennett (pictured), 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
They were both convicted by a majority verdict at Birmingham Crown Court today following a four week trial.
A jury of three women and nine men took 13 hours to find the pair guilty of murder by a majority verdict of 10-2.
They also unanimously found Salmond guilty of preventing lawful burial and fraud – two charges which Flanagan had previously admitted.
Flanagan, wearing a grey sweater and blue jeans, shook his head as the verdicts were returned while Salmond appeared via video link from her hospital bed.
The victim’s mother Janet wept as the verdicts were announced before Judge Sue Carr told the court: ‘Mr Flanagan, you will be remanded in custody. Sentencing will be on Friday.’
The trial had heard how the couple murdered Ms Bennett in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham on or about May 9, 2013.
Kathleen Salmond (pictured) arriving at court during the trial was also unanimously found guilty of benefit fraud between May 8 and 31 2013, and preventing 39-year-old Miss Bennett’s burial
They then ‘callously’ disposed of her body in the communal bins opposite their flat, where it lay undiscovered before the bins were emptied.
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.
Ms Bennett 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 May 9 she failed to collect her prescription from Lloyds pharmacy in Selly Oak.
Kevin Flanagan (left) and Salmond (right) were today convicted of murdering Ms Bennett in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham
At the time she was living with Salmond and Flanagan at their flat in Weirbrook Close, Weoley Castle.
The couple were arrested in February 2014 – nine months after the murder – when Flanagan’s brother told police they had confided in him about the crime.
The couple had claimed a total of £4,979 of her benefits.
Prosecutor Simon Denison QC said: ‘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.
‘They are almost unbelievably callous, are they not – sending messages to her mother Lisa’s mother who was obviously desperately worried about her, pretending she was alive and well, when she was dead.
‘It is an almost inhuman thing is it not, to treat a human body as a piece of rubbish to be thrown away.
‘These two defendants together benefited from her death, together murdered Lisa Bennett so that they could benefit as they did, and together disposed of her body.’
Jurors heard Flanagan confessed to his brother Joseph about the murder.
He reported the murder to police after Ms Bennett’s family appeared on TV to make an emotional appeal for information about her whereabouts.
Mr Dennison said: ‘Joseph Flanagan told police that in October or November 2013, Kevin Flanagan told him that he and Salmond has murdered Lisa.
‘Lisa was suicidal and wanted to die but couldn’t do it herself. Flanagan decided that he and Kathleen would do it for her.
‘They cooked the meat in the flat and told Lisa it was her ‘last dinner’. They then drowned Lisa in their bath.
‘Once she was dead they wrapped her body and put it in a wheelie bin.
‘Joseph Flanagan has said he came forward because when saw the TV appeal he realised that what his brother had told him was true, and seeing Lisa’s mother not knowing what had happened to Lisa when he knew, had affected him to the extent that he came forward, even though he loved his brother.’
The court heard Flanagan has previous convictions for driving while disqualified, shop lifting, burglary and theft of a vehicle for which he was jailed for four months in 2008.
In 2015 he also pleaded guilty robbery and having a bladed article for which he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Salmond has previous convictions for common assault, battery, burglary and attempted theft.
They will be sentenced on Friday.