Manslaughter conviction over 2020 canal death

A man has been found guilty of manslaughter six years after a man's body was found in a Birmingham canal.

Cain Watson, 33, had denied the murder and manslaughter of Darren Round, who an examination found had suffered brain damage and fractures to his face, ribs and neck, during a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

While jurors cleared Watson of murder, they found him guilty of manslaughter by a majority 11-1 verdict on Thursday.

Round, 48, was found in the canal on 15 February 2020 by members of the public using a canal-side path in Kings Norton.

The cause of his death was found to be from blunt force trauma and immersion in water, police said.

Watson, of Dornie Drive, Kings Norton, was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on 4 September.

Opening the Crown's case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Ben Williams KC said CCTV had recorded the sound of deep-voiced shouting within minutes of Watson going onto the canal path.

Adjourning the case after the verdicts were returned, Judge Paul Farrer KC said that when he sentences Watson, he is likely to reject the notion that a second person had attacked Mr Round.

The trial was told Watson was interviewed by police in June 2021 after being identified by two people, including a police officer, following a media appeal in March the same year.

He told police he knew nothing about the incident in which Round had died, disputed that the man caught on CCTV footage was him and claimed he was "probably in pigeon park" – the grounds of Birmingham's St Philip's Cathedral – at the relevant time.

Further forensic work concluded that the defendant's DNA was present on the inside surface of Round's left-front jacket pocket, Williams said.

Det Insp Ade George praised the "dogged determination" of the force's detectives involved in the case.

"We always had this investigation in our sights, to give Darren and his family the justice they deserve," he added.

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