A HANDYMAN from Bordon has been jailed for his part in covering up the killling of a Petersfield builder whose body was discovered in woodland months after he disappeared on a night out. Mark McGaughey, was sentenced to a 15-month jail sentence for his part in the cover-up plot hatched after Malcolm Carter, from West Sussex, plunged a knife into the neck of Danny Matthews after a row. McGaughey claimed that he found out about the killing, but failed to tell police because he feared for his own life, the court heard. Carter, McGaughey and two accomplices meticulously cleaned the bungalow where the killing took place, and burned the green sofa on which Mr Matthews was sitting in a bid to hide all evidence of the killing. The group also removed the victim's jewellery and mobile phone and disposed of them. McGaughey said he was asked to clean the inside of the silver Jeep Cherokee which had been used to take Mr Matthews' body away from Carter's farm home two days after the killing last June. The 24-year-old told the court that when he first arrived at the farm he smelt a strong smell of bleach and confronted Carter about what had happened. He said: "I just noticed a strong smell of bleach and I also noticed that one of the chairs was missing. "I went up to Carter and said 'who have you rubbed out then?' He said, 'you're not stupid are you Mark?' "I asked him who he had killed and he said, 'Danny.' "I didn't want anything to do with it but I wasn't going to go lurching off because for all I knew I could be next." McGaughey said that he was then asked to clean the fireplace of the house. But he denied that he cleaned it in a bid to remove forensic evidence of the killing. He added: "I can't deny that I may have cleaned some forensic evidence but I was not intentionally at any time trying to clean off forensic evidence." The court heard Danny Matthews, of Chapel Street, Petersfield, was murdered at Carter's Rival Lodge Farm home in West Harting, West Sussex, on the night of June 3, 2006. Carter stabbed Mr Matthews in the base of the neck with an eight-inch hunting knife after an altercation between the pair. Carter then took the body of the 29-year-old and buried him in woodland at Inholm Wood, near Chichester, West Sussex. Mr Matthews' body lay hidden until September 2006 when Carter led police to the woods and showed them where it was lying. He later admitted murdering him. Carter also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after he, along with house-mate Graham Palfrey, 47, Keith Sims, a 51-year-old lorry driver from Portsmouth, and McGaughey, hatched an elaborate plot to hide the killing from police. Palfrey's girlfriend, 32-year-old Kirsty Harper, of Glenthorne Meadow, Petersfield, also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after she went along with the plot. A hushed Winchester Crown Court heard Judge Michael Broderick sentence the gang. Carter nodded his head as he was handed a life sentence and told that he would serve a minimum of 16 years. Judge Brodrick said: "Precisely what triggered the offence will remain a mystery." Palfrey, who had also admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing, was jailed for five years. Sims and McGaughey denied perverting the course of justice, but were found guilty of playing a part in the conspiracy to cover up the killing. Sims was jailed for 21 months while Harper was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months and 200 hours' unpaid work.
