Yeovil murder victim's body not found despite police tip off
Mr Wheeler, who was last seen alive on the day of the police's first tip-off and visit, was murdered by his friends Mark Roberts and David Garland after they mistakenly believed he was a paedophile.The defendants had read news coverage of a man with the same name, who was jailed in 2003 for grooming and sexually abusing two 13-year-old girls, police said.Mr Wheeler had no convictions for child sexual offences, and was only 16-years-old in 2003, police added.Mark Roberts, 39, of Juniper Close in Yeovil, Somerset, and David Garland, 40, of no fixed abode, were sentenced to life in prison in June.
The IOPC investigation, which comes after a mandatory referral from Avon and Somerset Police, said an officer spoke to the man outside the property, who said he lived at the address and refused to let them inside.They later received anonymous information about a dead body at the same address, suggesting the man had been murdered two or three weeks before."Inquiries were carried out, but police were unable to locate a body," the report said.Several arrests were later made, including the man who was initially visited by the officer and a short time later a body was found.The IOPC said it concluded its investigation in March and is in the process of informing the people involved of the outcome.
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