Drug dealer denies hiding body under bed in Penzance

The full cause of death of Cecilia Seddon could not be determined

A drug dealer has denied injecting his girlfriend with a cocktail of drugs and hiding her body after she overdosed.

Clayton Hawkes told Truro Crown Court he last saw Cecilia Seddon, whose body was found in his flat in April 2018, while sending her on a drug errand.

Mr Hawkes, 52, of Hayle, is accused of perverting the course of justice by hiding her body in a blue air bed cut open to form an "improvised body bag".

Mr Hawkes denies the charge and two counts of administering a poison.

Giving evidence, Mr Hawkes told the jury he started taking heroin in the early-2000s and by 2006 he was also selling drugs.

He said he always made sure he paid for drugs he used because there were "nasty people in that game" and you would be "in trouble" if you did not pay.

Ms Seddon's body was found in a flat in Penare Road, Penzance, after one of Mr Hawkes' acquaintances raised the alarm

Mr Hawkes said Ms Seddon, 32, stayed with him for a few days but he was "annoyed" with her because she had stolen crack cocaine from him.

He wanted her to leave so he tricked her into leaving the flat and then locked the door behind her, he said.

He added that she came back and "was shouting outside for ages saying 'let me in'".

Being evicted

Mr Hawkes said he "just ignored her" and eventually she left.

He said he moved out of the flat on 14 April because his landlady was evicting him and had threatened to call the police about his drug activities.

Mr Hawkes said he did not know anything about Ms Seddon's death or how she came to be found dead underneath his bed on 19 April.

He said he did not inject her or anyone else with heroin and cocaine.

Jurors were told Blaze Fisher, 25, of Redruth, previously admitted perverting the course of justice by hiding Ms Seddon's body.

The trial continues.