A TEENAGER whose body was discovered at a Crayford recycling plant was murdered for refusing to hand over drugs he was “minding” for a drugs gang, it has been claimed.

Nathan Lyons, aged 17, from the Birmingham area, was found dead by workers at Viridor Materials Recycling Facility in Century Wharf, Crayford Creek, Crayford, on May 13 last year.

Amanda Allden, aged 29, from Bromsgrove, and Scott Hancox. aged 34, from Winyates near Redditch, both in Worcestershire, are currently on trial at Worcester Crown Court, charged with his murder.

Stephen Linehan QC, prosecuting, told the jury the teenager had been sent to Winyates by the Birmingham drugs gang, to protect its profits.

He said the gang was supplying Hancox with heroin and crack cocaine to sell from his flat.

But after Allden, described as “an addict with a voracious habit”, moved in, she helped herself to drugs and the gang’s profits fell.

Mr Linehan said: “The reason why Mr Lyons was killed was undoubtedly his refusal to hand over drugs which could be smoked by these two defendents, rather than sold.”

The prosecution says Mr Lyons was murdered either on the night of April 30 last year or in the early hours of May 1.

His body was then dumped in a recycling bin near Hancox’s flat and eventually transported to the recycling plant in Crayford, where it was discovered.

The body was decomposed but still intact and Mr Lyons was identified through his fingerprints because he had a criminal record.

But a pathologist said he could not say how Mr Lyons died because the body had passed through the recycling machinery.

Police found 100 wraps of heroin and crack hidden in Mr Lyons’ underpants.

When the body’s discovery hit the national press, Mr Linehan said Allden went to a solictor offering herself as a witness and claiming Hancox had killed Mr Lyons by smashing a wooden implement on his head, launching three separate attacks while she cowered in a bedroom.

Hancox refused to answer police questions and claimed he had never met Mr Lyons.

Mr Linehan said the body was wrapped in a duvet cover and dumped and the couple spent the rest of the evening together, at one point caught on CCTV walking arm-in-arm.

They told the drugs gang Mr Lyons had run off with all its drugs and cash.

The trial continues.