Michael Currer

Michael Currer was found dead at his home at 7am on 12 November 2016.

It was heard that his occasional girlfriend confessed to killing him but the police said that there was no evidence against her and she was not charged.

Michael Currer had 15 cracked ribs and a shoe mark on his face and his cause of death was given as being due to severe chest and facial injuries. The police said that his injuries were consistent with a sustained beating from punching and kicking, but that they didn't think that any weapons had been used.

It was noted that the police had been called to his flat by Michael Currer three days before he was found dead at 9.50am on 8 November 2016, but that they didn't go inside as a person they thought was Michael Currer had told them to go away through the letterbox. An investigation was later carried out into how the police handled the call by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but it concluded in December 2018 by stating that they found no wrongdoing on the part of the police.

Michael Currer's inquest concluded that he had died from an unlawful killing.

It was heard that Michael Currer and his girlfriend had fallen out a few days before his murder and that his girlfriend had then moved out of the flat that they had been sharing in Saffron Square and had gone to live with a former partner.

A man that had lived in a flat across from Michael Currer said that he used to buy drugs from him and said that on Monday 7 November 2016 he had borrowed a packet of Rizla from him and said that at that time  he had seen no visible injuries on Michael Currer.

It was noted that the girlfriend had been visiting Michael Currer's flat on 9 November 2016 at the time when the police were called out for help by Michael Currer, but that when they had got there they were told that they were no longer required and were not needed by a person who they thought had been Michael Currer through the letterbox.

When the police were later asked why they didn't go into the flat, they said, 'We wanted that door open. But what we want and what the law allows are two different things. If someone doesn't want to come to their door, we can't compel them'.

It was heard that there was no evidence to say that the man that they spoke to was not Michael Currer, but that they could not be certain of when he died. However, the police said that there were no sightings of Michael Currer after Wednesday 9 November 2016.

The police said, '’I've listened to the call. The control room did try to get some details from him to ascertain why he had rung. He’s quite evasive because he doesn’t want the police to attend and doesn’t want to give details'. The police added that no-one else could be heard in the background and he 'was not being assaulted at that time'. The police continued, 'It was very odd. We you get calls like that, then what the police will always do is err on the side of caution and attend anyway. And that’s what happened but when police got to his home address, he refused to let them in and co-operate and told them to go away'.

The alarm was raised three days later when Michael Currer's ex-partner went back to the flat and found him dead.

His ex-partner said that she confessed to the police over his murder because she had fallen into a depression after his death. She said, 'I felt like I hadn't got a life left any more; it had gone'.

The police said that there was no evidence to link her or her other partner to Michael Currer's murder and that the case remained open.

Michael Currer's ex-partner said that she had been in an on-off relationship with him and had been living at his flat. She said that on Monday 7 November 2016, she had gone to his flat and had found Michael Currer behaving strangely. She said, 'He wasn’t himself. He seemed all on edge about something'. She said that it felt like he didn't want her there and so she went to the flat of another man that she had been living with who lived around the corner on Hunter Road. At the inquest in December 2018 it was noted that that man had also since died. The woman said that when she went back to Michael Currer's flat on the Tuesday or Wednesday to pick up more clothes she saw him sitting on the sofa and noticed that he had injuries around his right eye as though somebody had hit him. She said, 'It looked like somebody had been in and tipped the place upside-down', but said that when she asked Michael Currer about the mess, he wouldn't tell her anything about it.

She added that whilst she was there that day, three people had called looking for drugs, but that she had told them that there was nothing.

The woman said that on the Thursday 10 November 2016 she called for an ambulance and asked them to go to Michael Currer's flat. She said that she didn't go to his flat, but called him but got no reply. She said then that on 12 November 2016, she and her partner then went round to Michael Currer's flat and found that the bolt was not on the door, which she said she thought was strange. She said that when she saw Michael Currer, she saw no fresh injuries but said that her partner then told her that Michael Currer was dead.

It was noted that about £3,000 in cash and heroin was found in the flat.

It was later in February 2017, whilst the police were investigating the murder, that the woman confessed to murdering him, but she later withdrew her confession.

The police said that there were no signs of a forced entry into the flat and that 'Whoever went in had either gone in with Michael's consent or had let themselves in'.

Three people were arrested in connection with his murder, two men and a woman, but no one was ever charged.

The police said that their investigation resulted in three hypotheses:

1. The woman killed him.
2. The woman and her other partner (who since died) killed him.
3. Somebody unknown and not identified killed him.

The police then said that they had nothing to support the thir option and so were left with only options 1 and 2. However, the Crown Prosecution Service said that there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute either of them.

Michael Currer was known as Mick to his friends and was unemployed