Lindsay Birbeck murder: Teenager found guilty of killing mother-of-two named as Rocky Marciano Price
The 17-year-old murderer can now be identified after reporting restrictions covering his anonymity were lifted by a judge.
Thursday 13 August 2020 17:00, UK
An "evil" and "cowardly" boy convicted of murdering a mother-of-two and burying her body in a shallow grave in a Lancashire cemetery has been named.
Rocky Marciano Price, 17, can now be identified after reporting restrictions covering his anonymity were lifted by a judge.
The remains of teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck were found wrapped in two plastic bags in Accrington Cemetery on 24 August last year - 12 days after she went missing.
The 47-year-old was attacked by Price while taking a late afternoon walk in woods near her home in the town.
Mrs Birbeck died from neck injuries inflicted by either stamping or kicking or kneeling on the front of the neck, a Home Office pathologist told jurors at Preston Crown Court.
An attempt had also been made to cut off a leg, possibly with a saw.
The teenager had been on the prowl in the woods for lone women and is thought to have killed Mrs Birbeck shortly after she entered the Coppice, a wooded area near her home.
Jurors deliberated for more than four hours before returning a guilty verdict on Wednesday - a year after Mrs Birbeck was murdered.
On Thursday, trial judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled the public interest in knowing the identity of Mrs Birbeck's killer outweighed concerns over his welfare.
The judge said: "This was a dreadful crime which understandably generated strong public interest. The public will naturally want to know who this person was as they come to terms with something that rocked the local community."
Her killer - who was 16 at the time - turned himself in after police released CCTV of a young male pulling a blue wheelie bin behind him on Burnley Road in Accrington.
Price admitted disposing of the body but denied being involved in her death.
He claimed instead that a mystery man had approached him in the area and promised him a large cash reward if he got rid of the body.
He said: "I have not met this man before. I have not met him since, nor have I had any contact with him.
"He has not paid me any money. He told me that he would leave the money for me near where the body had been at first once everything was clear."
Prosecutors called the defendant's account an "implausible fiction".
Shortly before Mrs Birbeck entered the Coppice, another woman said she feared for her safety when a lone male wearing a grey tracksuit and his hood up followed her on her walk.
He was getting closer when she startled him by glancing back and thought he had pulled up after running away.
Mrs Birbeck's family said they were "completely devastated" at her "appalling" murder, but felt a "sense of relief" at the guilty verdict.
In a statement, the family said: "Our lives have been utterly destroyed by the evil, cowardly behaviour of the defendant and the horrific manner in which she was murdered - it has left a huge void in our lives that will never be filled.
"This callous act has destroyed our lives forever."
Price is due to be sentenced on Friday.