Coventry man sentenced for killing woman discovered in Binley Woods
Mohammed Durnion has been convicted of the manslaughter of 33-year-old Reanne Coulson in May last year
Last updated 26th Mar 2026
A labourer who killed a mother-of-two whose body was found in a shallow grave near a woodland path has been sentenced to 18 years for manslaughter.
Mohammed Durnion was caught on police body-worn cameras as he feigned a mental health crisis and falsely claimed his father had cancer – minutes after the killing and about an hour before officers failed to discover the body of Reanne Coulson hidden under a mattress.
Jurors at Warwick Crown Court cleared the 42-year-old of murder but convicted him of manslaughter by a majority 11-1 verdict on Tuesday after hearing how he used petrol to set part of the victim’s body on fire.
Jurors had been instructed to find Durnion, of Paynes Lane, Coventry, guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter if they believed he had not intended to cause really serious bodily harm to Ms Coulson.
He claimed the 33-year-old died from a drugs overdose on the night of May 21 last year, when he had taken “stupid amounts” of cocaine and panicked, before burying her body in woodland five miles from his home.
Prosecutors alleged that Ms Coulson had been attacked and strangled, causing her death.
Durnion’s friend and fellow ground worker Adam Moore has been sentenced to 6 years for assisting an offender by helping in the disposal of Ms Coulson’s body in Binley Woods.
Moore, 39, of Marlcroft, Willenhall, Coventry, had denied the charge, claiming he went to the woods simply to look for Durnion.
Footage of Durnion taking officers to the grave, near a bridleway, and speaking to two officers outside his flat, was issued by West Midlands Police after he was found guilty.
Durnion initially refused to answer police questions after his arrest on June 24 but took officers to the makeshift grave after being shown footage of a media appeal made by his victim’s relatives.
A three-week trial heard police were sent to Durnion’s flat after a 999 call made by a neighbour who heard the victim, a sex worker who was known to take drugs, shouting for help.
Passing sentence on both men, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said Ms Coulson had been deeply loved by her entire family and was someone who helped others without hesitation.
The judge said Durnion had “showed total contempt for her in life and in death”.
She told Durnion: “You put her body into a suitcase. You drove around with it on board, covering some considerable distance, to scope out locations where you might dispose of her body on land or in water.”