A NURSERY worker was killed by a serial sex attacker who then hanged himself, an inquest heard yesterday.
The body of Amanda Edwards, 21, was found in a shallow grave at a building site where her killer had been working. Her hands and ankles were bound with tape.
Ian Cortis, 48, a convicted rapist who had been questioned by police for several days about Miss Edwards’s disappearance before being released for lack of evidence, killed himself after he found out that police had located the body.
Yesterday the coroner holding a joint inquest in Devizes, Wiltshire, into both deaths recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Miss Edwards and suicide on Cortis. Miss Edwards was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s house to drive home. Earlier she had arranged to meet Cortis, whose wife had walked out on him the previous week, to “help him with his computer”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Howlett, of Wiltshire Police, told the hearing that the pair had exchanged text messages but kept the rendezvous a secret. He said: “The text said she would meet Cortis and help him to work his computer but she did not want her boyfriend to know.”
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Cortis became an immediate suspect because he did not tell police that he had been in contact with Miss Edwards. Detective Chief Superintendent Howlett said that he had reason to suspect that Cortis’s relationship with his wife fell apart because of his friendship with Miss Edwards. He added: “We were concerned he had not got in touch and we knew of his past convictions. His house also smelt of bleach which we think was used to disguise the smell of her body.
“We believe she was unlawfully killed and it is my suggestion that Cortis, had he been alive, should have been charged with Amanda’s murder.”
The couple had had sexual intercourse before she died, but there were no signs that it was forced. Cortis later buried Miss Edwards’ body, planning to return at a later date to cover the site in concrete.
Recording of a verdict of suicide on Cortis, David Masters, the coroner, said: “He denied Amanda ever came to his house but plainly that is false as forensic evidence shows she was there. He was aware of the risk of her body being found that would tie him to her death.
“He had served prison sentences for rape and if he were to be convicted of her death it would have been a probable life sentence.” Recording a verdict of unlawful killing on Miss Edwards, he said: “The probability is that Amanda died from asphyxia. I am satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that this death came about because of an act of unlawful homicide.”
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Cortis, who hanged himself the day Amanda’s body was found, had served time in prison for two rapes committed in 1998. A further rape allegation was made against him in 1999 and one of indecent assault in 2003. Both resulted in no charges being brought because of lack of evidence.