Wife jailed for shielding ex-partner's killer

Killer's sister, Alison Hooley, went on the run from police

A woman who shielded the killer of her estranged husband has been jailed for 19 months.

Christine Chappel - who had had a sex change and was formerly known as Bryan Hooley - died in a fight at her Essex home in February last year.

The death initially went unnoticed by police as her body lay in a shed for week then was tied to a lilo and floated out to sea.

You knew your brother had done something he should not have done. You then willingly agreed to shield him

Mr Justice Blofeld

Alison Hooley, 38, admitted removing evidence of Ms Chappel's killing and lying to police.

Last month her brother, Charles Halfacree, of Chelmsford, Essex, was jailed for four years and three months after admitting manslaughter and charges related to disposing of his brother-in-law's body.

Halfacree hid the body in a shed for a month before buying chains and weights and floating it out to sea from Covehithe, Suffolk.

The body eventually washed up on a beach four miles away in Kessingland, Suffolk.

But it was another five months before Hooley and Halfacree were arrested.

Halfacree: Jailed for killing brother-in-law

Norwich Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Hooley played no part in Ms Chappel's death but did conspire with her brother to deceive police.

She continued to live in her marital home in Roxwell, Essex, while Ms Chappel's body lay in a shed.

Neighbours saw her carrying two bin liners, which she said were filled with old clothes.

Hooley went on the run from a bail hostel in February this year after hearing that Halfacree had pleaded guilty.

Public money wasted

She visited Scotland before travelling to Poole, in Dorset, where she was arrested late last month.

Jailing Hooley for 18 months for perverting the course of justice and one month for absconding while on bail, Mr Justice Blofeld, said: "You knew your brother had done something he should not have done.

"You then willingly agreed to shield him.

"A great deal of public time and money was spent investigating the mysterious circumstances in which he had come to disappear."