Man convicted of murdering his partner

A man has been convicted of murdering his partner, whose body was found in woods near Guildford.

Helen Anderson’s body was found near the A3 on Monday 23 August after her partner Dane Messam drove it there in a decommissioned double decker bus.

The jury at Guildford Crown Court heard that later the same day, he purchased cleaning products, including bleach, to clean the bus and cancelled her plane ticket to Jamaica. They had been due to fly there just two days later for the funeral of Messam’s mother.

Helen was last seen alive on the night of Friday 20 August when she withdrew money from a cash point with the defendant and the police were unable to find any trace of her after that that.

Rebecca Millardship from the CPS said: “Helen had been in a relationship for some time with the defendant and there was a history of domestic violence.

“In police interviews, Messam first claimed Helen had a history of disappearing and then attempted to blame a friend for Helen’s murder, saying he had taken the bus and killed her, but the jury was able to see through his story.”