Lindsay Birbeck cemetery murder: Teen boy charged with killing mother-of-two
Written by News on 01/09/2019
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a mother-of-two whose body was found in a cemetery last Saturday.
Teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck, who was strangled, had gone missing from her home in Huncoat, Lancashire, on 12 August.
Her disappearance led to wide-ranging searches by hundreds of members of the public.
Her body was discovered in Accrington Cemetery on 24 August, almost two weeks after she was last seen, and a murder inquiry was then launched.
A post-mortem found the 47-year-old had died as a result of compression of the neck.
Ms Birbeck was last seen on CCTV walking in Accrington.
On Thursday, Ms Birbeck’s children, Steven, 19, and Sarah, 16, paid tribute to “a great mum and wife, much-loved daughter, loving aunty and sister-in-law and a great friend too”.
They added: “It saddens us deeply that someone has cruelly taken our mum away from us and now she will never see us get married, have children and set up homes of our own, which she would have loved.
“Our mum was very loved by all that met her including all of the pupils that she has taught over the years.
“We have not only lost our mum but we’ve lost our best friend too.”
Kate Marney, headteacher at Ightenhill Primary School in Burnley, said Ms Birbeck was “a highly valued and respected member of staff who was popular with both pupils and colleagues”.
She said: “We will miss her enormously at school. All our thoughts are with her family at this very sad time.”
Lancashire police said the 16-year-old suspect from Accrington, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is due to appear at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
(c) Sky News 2019: Lindsay Birbeck cemetery murder: Teen boy charged with killing mother-of-two
