Karen Otmani. Pic: Metropolitan police

A woman from Lewisham who murdered her boyfriend and kept his body in a wheelie bin in her bedroom was today jailed for life.

Karen Otmani, 42, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of her on-off lover Shaun Corey, also 42, on the grounds that she was suffering from battered woman syndrome.

This plea was dismissed by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday who found her guilty of murdering Corey in June last year in the flat they shared on Stanstead Road.

The court heard that after drugging Corey’s beer, Otmani tied him up in her home and suffocated him with a pillow case.

She then hid the body in a wheelie bin in her bedroom for eleven days before it was discovered by police.

Bernard Beddoe, 60, a friend of Otmani’s who was present just after the time of the murder, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter but was found guilty of assisting an offender.

The court heard that he had helped Otmani to put the body into the bin.

Otmani will serve a minimum of 17 years, while Beddoe has been remanded in custody for sentencing on December 7.

Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Gwyn, Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: “I hope that this goes in some small way towards providing some comfort to Shaun Corey’s family.”