A man from Wigan's been found guilty of murdering his neighbour then stashing his body in a wheelie bin.

25 year old James Jepson killed Steven Rourke- who was 26- back in March by strangling him with a washing line near his home in Bickershaw lane in Hindley.

A young Wigan man has been convicted of murdering his next door neighbour and then callously hiding his body in a wheelie bin.

A jury of eight men and four women took just over two hours to unanimously convict 25-year-old James Jepson of murdering Steven Rourke by strangling him with a washing line.

During his nine day trial Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 26-year-old victim, a gay schizophrenic, was killed on the evening of March 22 this year but his body was only found three days later.

After moving the wheelie bin around Jepson had eventually dumped it on waste land, known as Victoria Fields, near his home in Bickershaw Lane, Hindley. Two youths moved carpet at the top of the bin and were horrified to find Mr Rourke's body which was upside down.

Jepson, also known as Kelly, who denied murder, was further remanded in custody to await sentence on Tuesday as his QC Stuart Driver was unavailable today.

Andrew Menary, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that it was an irony that the victim enjoyed the dangerous fetish of self-asphyxiation and was strangled to death.

He said that jobless Jepson killed him after Mr Rourke made sexual advances towards him and after putting him in the wheelie bin then went out drinking and socialising.

He was captured on CCTV pulling the bin around and seen by witnesses and his then girlfriend, Rauridh Earley, tearfully told the jury how he had confessed to killing him.

The court heard that the blue washing line had been tightly wrapped round the victim's neck four times and tied with a double knot at the front. Petrol was also found on his clothing showing that Jepson had contemplated setting fire to the body, said Mr Menary.

Jepson told the court that after Mr Rourke, who had a piece of washing line around his neck, came round and asked to have sex with him he had a sudden vision of a relative who had abused him when he was a child.

"I just froze. The next thing I must have blacked out for a minute or two. I came round, I snapped out of it and Steven was lying on the floor. I didn't know what to do," he said.

He said he had been drinking, smoking cannabis and taking cocaine on the fateful night. He said if he had killed him he would admit it and explained he had not called the police as he had cannabis plants growing in his home.

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