Three found guilty in Gary Hampson murder trial

21/12/2012

A man has been found guilty of murdering a man at a car repair garage in Brighton in a case where the victim’s body has still yet to be found.

Daniel Alexander was convicted of the murder of Gary Hampson at the garage he ran with him in Little Western Street. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Alexander had been on trial with three other people. Roy Bartup was found guilty of conspiring with Alexander to pervert the course of justice for helping to dispose of Mr. Hampson's body, while Alexander's girlfriend, Linda Rosenberg, was convicted of doing acts tending or intending to pervert Mr. Hampson. Alan Topping had been charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice, but the course of justice, after spreading false and contradictory information about the disappearance of was found not guilty by the jury.

The trial at Hove Crown Court had been told that, although Gary Hampson's body had not been found, forensic examination found three distinct areas of blood stains at the garage and in a car, pointing to Mr. Hampson being killed in the garage, with his body then taken elsewhere in the car. His mobile phone also showed him being at the garage on the day he disappeared.

Prosecutor Simon Drew from CPS South East said:

"The fact that Gary Hampson's body has never been found has presented evidential challenges for us, but it is not a bar to a prosecution.

"Due to an extensive investigation by Sussex Police, we were able to rely on a number of strands of evidence to prove that Gary Hampson was dead, that he was unlawfully killed and that he was unlawfully killed by Daniel Alexander.

"Alexander, together with Roy Bartup, who helped him conceal Gary Hampson's body, has been convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Linda Rosenberg, who sought to generate false accounts about what happened, has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.

"This has been a complex and difficult case and it is testament to the hard work of all involved including the Police, CPS lawyers and CPS Advocates that the jury were able to return their guilty verdicts today.

"Following today's convictions we would ask that anyone who has any information on the whereabouts of Gary Hampson's body to get in touch with Sussex Police, so that his remains can be recovered and his family, finally, have some form of closure."