Body-on-a-lilo killer is jailed

Killer's sister, Alison Hooley, is sought by police

A man who killed his sister's ex-husband then tried to hide the body by floating it out to sea on a lilo, has been jailed.

Christine Chappel - who had had a sex change and was formerly known as Bryan Hooley - died in a fight with Charles Halfacree, at her marital home in Roxwell, Essex.

Halfacree, 37, of Chelmsford, Essex, has admitted manslaughter and two other charges relating to his "repugnant" attempts to hide his relative's body.

The defendant went to extraordinary lengths to try to cover up his crime

Detective Superintendent Adrian Braddy

Police are still searching for Ms Chappel's former wife, Alison Hooley, to face an allegation of perverting the course of justice.

Ms Hooley, Halfacree's 38-year-old half-sister, failed to answer bail.

Ms Chappel died in February last year after being pushed by Halfacree and hitting her head on a door frame.

She weighed some seven stones less than Mr Halfacree, who at 6ft 4ins was considerably taller than her.

Halfacree panicked and instead of calling emergency services, hid his relative's body in a shed.

Halfacree: Nearly drowned trying to hide body at sea

It remained there for about a month before he wrapped it in chains, put it on a lilo, and floated it out to sea off the Suffolk coast, probably from Covehithe.

Norwich Crown Court heard Halfacree nearly drowned himself in the process.

The body was found days later on a beach four miles away in Kessingland, Suffolk.

'Repugnant'

Police, unsure if the body was male or female, took several days to establish the identity.

It was to be another six months before Halfacree was arrested.

Last week Halfacree admitted preventing the lawful burial of a body and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Jailing Halfacree on Monday for a total of four years and three months on three charges, the judge said the effort taken to cover up the killing was "repugnant to all right-thinking people".

Complex case

Mr Justice Blofeld said: "You went to these somewhat bizarre lengths to get chains, stripping the body and putting it out to sea.

"That understandably caught the attention of the media and made this a very unusual case indeed.

"What your motive was for doing that still remains a mystery to me. By doing that you did something very wrong."

Defending, Lord Gifford QC, said Halfacree could not explain why he did not dial 999.

'Nightmare scenario'

"He recognises that it was really inexcusable not to have called the emergency services.

"Once he had done that he got sucked into a vortex where he got sucked into some nightmare scenario on the sea where he himself nearly drowned."

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Superintendent Adrian Braddy, said it had been a complex case taking "dedicated detective work and forensic expertise" to get to the truth.

It had emerged that Ms Chappel, who was born in Australia, had suffered from depression.