Defendant guilty of manslaughter over body found in Birmingham canal six years ago
Cain Watson will be sentenced in September
A 33-year-old man has been convicted of killing a victim whose body was found in a canal in Birmingham six years ago.
Jurors cleared Cain Watson of murder but found him guilty by a majority 11-1 verdict of the manslaughter of Darren Round, who suffered fractures to his face, ribs and a bone in his neck, as well as significant brain damage.
A trial at Birmingham Crown Court was shown CCTV evidence linking Watson, of Dornie Drive, Kings Norton, to the death of Mr Round in the early hours of February 15 2020.
Watson, who denied both murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced in September.
Opening the Crown’s case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Ben Williams KC said CCTV had recorded the sound of deep-voiced shouting within minutes of Watson going onto the canal path.
Mr Williams told jurors that Mr Round, aged 48, was found in the water at about 8.30am on February 15 by members of the public using a canalside path in Kings Norton.
Adjourning the case after verdicts were returned on Thursday, Judge Paul Farrer KC said that when he sentences Watson he is likely to reject the notion that a second person had attacked Mr Round.
Ordering pre-sentence reports to assess Watson’s dangerousness, the judge said: “The jury have convicted you of manslaughter but not of murder.
“I will sentence you for that offence on Friday the 4th of September.
“In the meantime you will remain in custody.”
The trial was told Watson was interviewed by police in June 2021 after being identified by two people, including a police officer, following a media appeal in March of the same year.
He told police he knew nothing about the incident in which Mr Round had died, disputed that the man caught on CCTV was him and claimed he was “probably in pigeon park” – the grounds of Birmingham’s St Philip’s Cathedral – at the relevant time.
Further forensic work concluded that the defendant’s DNA was present on the inside surface of Mr Round’s left front jacket pocket, Mr Williams said.