While police officers and family members of Mathew Scott were searching for the missing man, his friend Jamie Russell knew the terrible truth - that he was laying dead under a blanket in his flat. When the body was finally discovered it was impossible to ascertain a cause of death, and due to the state of the body Mr Scott's family were unable to see him.
Russell was subsequently charged with the rarely-used common law offence of preventing a decent and lawful burial, and jailed for two years. Police said given the circumstances of the incident the decision was made to prosecute the defendant - partly to deter others from doing something similar in the future.
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