Gemma Hayter: Three guilty of railway murder

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Three people have been found guilty of murdering a woman who was found dead on a disused railway line.



Gemma Hayter, 27, was found dead in a place known as the old station in Rugby on 9 August 2010. Police said she had suffered serious head injuries.

The two men and a woman aged between 20 and 22 from Rugby, had all denied her murder at Warwick Crown Court.

Ms Hayter, whose body was found by a jogger, was asked to drink urine and beaten to death, the court heard.

Daniel Newstead, 20, Joe Samuel Boyer, 18, and Chantelle Franklyn Booth, 22, all of Little Pennington Street were all convicted of murder.

'Bloodied and abused'

Jessica Lynas, 19, of Little Pennington Street, and Duncan Edwards, 19, of Ashwood Court, were found guilty of manslaughter.

All five were convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the evening of Ms Hayter's death when she can be seen in the company of the group at Rugby train station and walking through the town.

Later on the same evening the five can be seen walking back into the town centre without Ms Hayter.

Summing up the Crown's case, the Right Honourable Lady Justice Rafferty DBE said: "The Crown said Gemma Hayter was asked to drink urine, she was bloodied and abused and violence was the next bedfellow.

"The girl spoilt their evening. They walked her the wrong way home for half an hour down a dark path. No one went down there for innocent reasons.

"She was beaten to death after being weakened by events in the flat. They (the defendants) went to Coventry hours after a girl lay dead."

Ms Hayter's body was found lying face down on a grass verge by a jogger while out on an early morning run.

The jury of seven men and five women took almost two days to deliver its verdict.

The five will be sentenced at a later date.

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The five faces found guilty of killing Rugby woman Gemma Hayter



Three of these brutal young faces have been found guilty of murder, while two have been convicted of the manslaughter of vulnerable Gemma Hayter.

Looking at the picture, from left, is Joe Boyer, 18, Chantelle Booth, 22, and Daniel Newstead, 20.

All three were last Thursday found guilty by a jury at Warwickshire Justice Centre of murdering Gemma whose found was found on a disuded railway line on August 9 last year.

On the bottom of the picture, from left, is Duncan Edwards, 19, and Jessica Lynas, 19. They were both found guilty of the manslaughter of Gemma.

All five defendants, all from Rugby, were found guilty of a second charge of actual bodily harm in relation to Gemma.

Emotions ran high as the verdicts were read out in court after a seven week trial.

Judge Lady Justice Rafferty said it would be inappropriate to sentence the five at the hearing on Thursday.

She adjourned the case for sentencing in the near future.