Man killed teenage drug dealer and hit body under shed

A man has pleaded guilty to killing a teenager and burying his body under a garden shed.

Home owner William Regan, 37, admitted at the Old Bailey today the manslaughter of Stephen Ojerinola, 18.

His plea of not guilty to murder was accepted by the prosecution on the eve of a retrial.

Regan, of Kidbrooke, had previously pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful burial and burglary.

Max Hill, QC, prosecuting, said that Mr Ojerinola may have first hit Regan over the head with a bat and cut his arm with a knife.

The ten wounds of Mr Ojerinola may then have been caused in a struggle between the two men in April last year.

Mr Ojerinola’s body was found in November last year under layers of gravel, a tarpaulin, wooden boards, rubble, soil, concrete and the newly-built shed.

He died after suffering a fractured skull and stab wounds.

Mr Hill previously told the trial: “Neighbours started to notice unusual activity, including the delivery of the shed, flat packed onto the roof of a car, and night-time digging in the rear garden that went on into the early hours of the following morning.”

In November last year police searched the house and found traces of blood.

Experts then excavated the ground underneath the shed and found his body.

The trial had heard Mr Ojerinola was a drug dealer and Regan was a drug addict who had recently been involved in a burglary where £10,000 was stolen.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing on December 17, along with Lee Davies, 36.

Davies was cleared of murder in June but the jury could not decide on a verdict on Regan.