Landlord hides dead body in pub

A pub landlord hid the body of a regular who died on the premises so that he could remain open for the weekend.

The Boot Hotel

Jason Chidgey, landlord of The Boot in Aberdare South Wales, found the body of Mark Howells after he had closed last Friday night and feared that if he reported it to the police they would close the pub over the weekend to investigate the death.

With help from the cleaner, Chidgey hid the body upstairs and then opened as normal over the weekend, finally reporting the discovery of the body the following Tuesday.

Chigey told other regulars who asked after Howells that he had spoken to him recently and that he was fine.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard that Chidgey would have got away with the scheme had it not been for the cleaner, Audra Rees, who began to “suffer nightmares” about what they had done and went to the police to make a full confession.

Chidgey was charged with perverting the course of justice and jailed for 15 months.

Judge Richard Twomlow said that he had shown “no respect for Mr Howells. All you seem to have been concerned about is making things less serious for yourself.”

The coroner’s report showed that Howells had died of “natural causes due to alcohol poisoning”.