Inquest opens into death of man jailed over missing body murder

Thaxter was serving a 30-year jail term at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire when he died on 15 August

An inquest into the death of a prisoner who was jailed for murdering a man whose body was never found has been opened and adjourned.

Jason Thaxter, 46, from Doncaster, was serving a 30-year jail term at HMP Whitemoor in March, Cambridgeshire, when he died on 15 August.

Senior Coroner David Heming said the provisional cause of death was hanging.

In 2016 Thaxter was convicted of Thomas Groome's murder and conspiracy to prevent his burial.

The 54-year-old Irish man was last seen on New Year's Day morning in 2010 as he left his son's house in Thorne, South Yorkshire.

His family thought he had gone to Portugal but reported him missing when they could not contact him.

Mr Groome was last seen alive on New Year's Day in 2010

Mr Groome's disappearance was initially treated as a missing person's inquiry but a murder investigation was launched in 2012.

Thaxter and his mother, June Buttle, were arrested a year later.

Buttle was charged in 2014 but there was insufficient evidence to charge her son at the time.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to prevent a burial and fraud charges and was sentenced to 16 years in prison the following year.

Mr Groome's body has never been found.

Opening the inquest into Thaxter's death, Mr Heming, a senior coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, set a provisional date for a pre-inquest review hearing to take place on 14 May 2024 to allow for an investigation to be carried out by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.