"Man Sentenced to Jail for Keeping Friend's Body in Freezer for Two Years

After preserving his deceased friend's body in a freezer for two years, a 53-year-old man named Damion Johnson was sentenced to prison. Johnson, who shared a strong 27-year friendship with 71-year-old John Wainwright, was overcome with grief when his friend died and failed to report his death. Residing together in Birmingham, where Johnson served as Wainwright's caretaker, the incident unfolded after the deceased's body was discovered in a skip company's freezer in August 2020.

Johnson, who reportedly viewed Wainwright as a paternal figure, acted irrationally post-mortem by purchasing a chest freezer and deceiving acquaintances about a funeral that never happened. He proceeded to use Wainwright's bank account and did not seek a legal death certification.

The issue came to light when an unplugged freezer omitted an odor, leading to the discovery of the body with signs of blunt force trauma. Authorities couldn't determine the actual cause of Wainwright's demise. Johnson, who then lived in Derby, faced conviction not just for preventing a proper burial but also for fraud.

While Judge Shaun Smith KC recognized the case's peculiarity and made no assumption of Johnson's involvement in the death, he stressed the severity of the crime. The judge admonished Johnson for his deliberate actions that concealed the body and disregarded the due respect of a proper burial. Consequently, Johnson received a two-year prison sentence for his actions.