A man now serving a 20-year prison sentence for rape has been further convicted for failing to report the death of a woman in her own home.

Although it is accepted that Sean Gallen was not responsible for the death of Sherry Hoyle, it remains a mystery why he chose not to inform the authorities, her family, or, apparently anyone at all, of the fact she was dead.

Durham Crown Court heard that it is believed he discovered her dead at her home address, in Ninth Street, Horden, in the early hours of September 17, 2020.

The prosecution said she appeared to have died from a drug overdose sometime between 10.17am and 9.23pm, on September 16, 2020.

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Dr Chris Wood, prosecuting, said the 44-year-old mother-of-three is believed to have died in her living room, as there was a large blood stain there, consistent with her injecting intravenous drugs.

Evidence from cctv footage showed that Gallen entered the property via the back door twice after her death, shortly after 4.30am on September 17, and early the following morning, either side of 2.30am.

The court heard that it appeared Gallen tried to clean the blood stain before wrapping the body in a duvet and placing it into the cupboard.

Dr Wood said that was where the landlord found her body up to six days after her death, when he attended to collect her overdue rent payment, on September 22, 2020.

The court heard that Gallen, 32, of Tenth Street, Horden, received the 20-year’ sentence for an unrelated rape conviction at Teesside Crown Court last year, an offence for which he was said to be “under investigation” at the time of events in Horden, in September 2019.

Gallen denied a charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of Ms Hoyle but was found guilty after a trial at Durham Crown Court, last month.

Dr Wood read impact statements from her eldest daughter, Kelly, and her sister, Cindy, in which they spoke of their “disgust” at Gallen for not reporting her death.

Kelly Hoyle said she knew her mother had a drug misuse problem and, “made some wrong choices in life”, but said she did not deserve to be treated with such disrespect, as shown by Gallen.

Sister Cindy said she considered Gallen’s actions as, “evil”.

She added: “Why not just phone for help?

“He had no reason to do what he did.”

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Derek Duffy, for the defendant, said there was “no indication” of any “foul play” relating to Hoyle’s death.

Speaking of his client’s actions, Mr Duffy said: “At most it was a body moved a short distance, but there’s no evidence of any unlawful activity by the defendant.”

Judge James Adkin told Gallen: “You have failed at any stage to show any remorse or provide any explanation to the family for what you did or why you did it, making their suffering greater.

“It is for me to decide on the facts that I heard during the trial what you actually did.

“I cannot be sure exactly what your motivation was, I just do not know whether you even had permission to be in that flat.

“It is not clear to me why you took steps to cover up her death but inferentially something must have happened which you felt might lead to some criminal responsibility, otherwise why do what you did?

“The harm here is significant.

“Members of Sherry’s family have been greatly traumatised by her death and by the discovery of her body as you left it.

“Culpability is high, too.

“You treated her body with contempt, hiding her away in a state of undress.

“She lay undiscovered for six days and may have lain undiscovered for much longer had the rent not been due to her landlord.”

Imposing sentence, Judge Adkin said as Gallen is already serving a 20-year sentence he reduced the 42-month sentence he was considering in the case, to one of 32 months.

But he said it would be served consecutively to the 20-year sentence already being served by Gallen.

Read next:

               Man jailed for 61 months after his late admission to the rape of a County Durham woman

               Victim's bravery helped to convict County Durham 'high risk' rapist

               Sex offender went to Ireland for funeral rather than Durham Crown Court for trial

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