Life Sentence For Teen That Murdered Lindsey Birbeck

Photo Sources: bbc.com, itv.com

In yesterday’s True Crime Tidbits, Fancy covered the murder of Lindsey Birbeck. Lindsey was murdered on August 12th, 2019 and her murderer’s guilty verdict came in on August 12, 2020, exactly 1 year later.

Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was reported missing by her 17 year old daughter when she didn’t return home after taking a walk in The Coppice, a wooded area in Lancashire, England. Lindsey who was a teaching assistant and mom of 2, had plans to have tea with her daughter Sarah 6pm. Lindsey had been last seen by witnesses at 4pm August 12th, heading toward The Coppice.

Twelve days later, her body was found, buried in a shallow grave at Accrington Cemetery in Lancashire. She was naked and wrapped in plastic bags. Her cause of death was a severe compression injury to her neck. There was no evidence of sexual assault but the murderer attempted to cut off one of Lindsey’s legs.

During their investigation, police went through over 3000 hours of CCTV footage and there was a young man that kept popping up on the footage. He was pulling a blue wheelie bin through a small village called Huncoat. A few days earlier a wheelie bin, like the one seen in the footage, was found in Accrington Cemetery. The police made an appeal to the public to find the young man in the footage and a 16 year old showed up at the police station with his family. His name was Rocky Marciano Price and he was named after the famous boxer. He wasn’t named publicly because he was under 18.

Price admitted to police that he had pulled Lindsey Birbeck’s dead body in the wheelie bin, from The Coppice to Accrington Cemetery. He said he buried her, but denied that he killed her. He had an interesting story for the police; a strange man had approached him and promised to pay him for disposing of the body. He claimed that the money would be left for him “where the body had been at first, once everything was clear.”

Price was arrested and charged with the murder of Lindsey Birbeck. At his trial, the prosecution called his story “implausible fiction”. They said Rocky Price had been prowling the woods looking for women that were walking alone. Lindsey Birbeck entered The Coppice and she was brutally murdered shortly after. The defense said that Rocky was autistic, had learning disabilities and an IQ of 65. He was always quiet, never caused any problems, was vulnerable and may have been easily led by others. Price’s family was in the courtroom each day wearing shirts that said “Wrongfully convicted! Free this boy”on the front, “Murderer still at large” on the back.

On Wednesday August 12th, 2020, exactly 1 year after Lindsey Birbeck’s murder, a jury at Preston Crown Court found Price guilty of murder. He’s been given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 16 years while Lindsey Birbeck’s husband Tim, daughter, Sarah and son, Steven will grieve forever.

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Originally published at http://madgingerentertainment.com.