‘Trusted’ friend, 20, is found guilty of rape and murder of barmaid Keeley Bunker, 20, who he strangled as she walked back from rap show then dumped her half-naked in a stream

• Wesley Streete attacked his victim then returned repeatedly to cover her body 
• He lied about what had happened, changing his account four times before trial
• The jury took just over eight hours to convict the former warehouse packer 

An evil thug who raped and strangled a childhood friend who ‘trusted’ him to walk her home safe, before dumping her half naked body in a stream, is facing life in jail after today being convicted of murder. 

Wesley Streete, who towered over his slightly-built victim, dumped barmaid Keeley Bunker’s body face-down in a stream in Wigginton Park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on September 19, last year, then repeatedly returned to the scene to cover her with vegetation, Stafford Crown Court was told.

He lied about what had happened to the 20-year-old woman, after returning with a friend from a night-out to Birmingham to celebrate Ms Bunker’s birthday, changing his account four times before trial.

Keeley Bunker, pictured left in Snobs nightclub, in Birmingham, where she had been celebrating her birthday with childhood friend Wesley Streete, pictured right, who later raped and murdered her

Detective blasts ‘audacity’ of killer who ‘played the martyr’ by accusing police of blaming him for murder after hiding body 

A senior investigating officer has said there was ‘audacity in his arrogance’ as killer Wesley Streete was convicted of murdering his childhood friend Keeley Bunker.

Detective Inspector Cheryl Hannan of Staffordshire Police said Streete’s lies from the outset meant the force knew early on he had something to do with the 20-year-old’s disappearance.

Ms Hannan said Streete was arrogant as he was ‘playing the martyr’ by criticising the police for blaming him – despite knowing the efforts he had gone to in order to conceal Ms Bunker’s body.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Ms Hannan said: ‘There’s Wesley Streete and Wesley Streete alone who is responsible for Keeley’s untimely death.

‘Her friend, as Keeley did, trusted him to walk her home that night and there’s only Wesley to blame that she didn’t make it home.

‘The lies that he told from the outset meant it was clear that he had something to do with her disappearance.

‘When her body was located he was arrested and soon after that CCTV evidence would completely disprove his first account along with phone evidence.’

Addressing his interaction with police after joining them for a ride-along in the back of a marked car, Ms Hannan said: ‘I think there’s some audacity in his arrogance there in playing the martyr – saying ‘why are people blaming me when I left her at that phone-box?’ knowing full well where she was and what he’d done and the efforts he’d gone to to conceal her, to delay people finding her, if ever.

‘It was apparent from the outset that Wesley was the last person to be with Keeley and he put himself forward as that person.

‘But it soon became apparent that he was telling contradictory things to friends and family members.

‘Then ultimately, we got evidence that completely disproved his account which led him to be the suspect in the investigation.

‘Forensic evidence disproved subsequent accounts and ultimately pathology still disproves his final account as to the way Keeley died.’

Commenting on the lies he told to Ms Bunker’s uncle, Ms Hannan said: ‘He did the same to Keeley’s father and even attended Keeley’s house when she was missing and lied to them directly – which shows someone’s character.’

Asked if she believed Streete was a sexual predator after also being found guilty of a series of sexual assaults on other women, the senior officer added: ‘I think he’s used his popularity to manipulate young women into situations where he thinks he can take advantage of them.’

Streete, also 20, previously of St Austell Close, Tamworth, initially claimed to have left Ms Bunker to walk home alone before later alleging he ‘accidentally killed her’ during consensual sex in the park.

The victim’s uncle later discovered Ms Bunker’s partially-submerged body later that same day during a massive search effort involving family, friends and police.

The jury took just over eight hours to convict the former warehouse packer. 

After being arrested, Streete told a web of lies which were undone by police who painstakingly pieced together CCTV and GPS data lifted from Streete’s own mobile phone.

It proved Streete had been with Ms Bunker in Wigginton Park in the early hours of September 19 and how he had repeatedly returned to the scene where he had dumped her body.

‘I kept on lying to everyone,’ he said from the witness box while giving evidence, before claiming: ‘Now I’m telling the truth.’ 

Friends and relatives had launched a search for missing Keeley after she failed to return home from watching rapper Aitch perform at the 02 Academy in Birmingham.

Promising footballer Streete, who was a ‘trusted friend’ of Keeley, said he accidentally strangled her during sex and dumped her body as he was ‘scared’ and ’embarrassed’.

But a jury rejected his claims and found him unanimously guilty of rape and murder following a three week trial at Stafford Crown Court today.

He was also found guilty of a further two counts of rape and three sexual assaults in relation to three other victims. He will be sentenced on Friday. 

The court heard Keeley, who was just 4ft 11ins and weighed six-and-a-half stone, was killed after she turned down a bed at a friend’s house following a night clubbing.

Footage released by Staffordshire Police after the verdict shows Keeley and Streete laughing and dancing in Snobs nightclub in Birmingham.

But she later declined to sleep over at Monique Riggon’s home because she wanted to get home and told her pal: ‘I’ve got Wes, Wes will walk me back, it’ll be fine.’

She had celebrated her birthday just days earlier and was due to attend a job interview at a local infant school later that day – but never arrived.

Jurors heard Streete pounced as the pair walked through the park and Keeley had the life choked out of her as a result of ‘sustained pressure’ around the neck.

He then hoisted Keeley’s body on to his shoulder and spent around an hour concealing her body in the undergrowth.

Bodycam footage shows Streete lying to police about Keeley’s whereabouts after she went missing and saying: ‘I just feel like I’m getting the blame’.

During his custody interview Streete can also be heard complaining his ’embarrassment’ at being accused and says: ‘Its scary, but not scary in a way.’

Wearing a black Nike t-shirt, he later tells a custody officer who asked him how he was feeling: ‘A bit sad… I wouldn’t even say a bit sad, just say sad’.

Keeley, who also worked at Drayton Manor Theme Park, was found by uncle Jason Brown at around 9pm the day after she disappeared.

Dean Reynolds, an off-duty police officer, said in a statement that Mr Brown’s agonising shouts were ‘the most horrendous screaming I have heard in my life.’

Keeley Bunker, had ‘trusted’ her childhood friend to walk her home safe, in Tamworth, Staffordshire

Prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said: ‘He began to scream ‘No!’ because he knew that he was he was looking at was the body of his niece. He had found Keeley.

‘It was lying face down in a pool, fringed by small trees and bushes, near the edge of an area of parkland in Tamworth.

‘It had been hidden under a latticework of branches taken from the surrounding vegetation.

‘Her clothing was in disarray, her tight black leggings and her underwear had been pulled down and were twisted over and around her trainers.

‘It was obvious from the state of her body and the way it had been hidden that she had been unlawfully killed.

‘It was obvious from the state of her clothing that she had been sexually assaulted.

‘He [Streete] had taken Keeley’s life and had sexually assaulted her, she a young woman who trusted him.’

A forensic pathologist said there were 100 marks to Keeley’s body including bruises to her face and scratches to her forehead.

Wesley Streete being led away from North Staffordshire Justice Centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme

There was also deep bruising beneath the skin of her face, her lower lip had been lacerated and there were also haemorrhages to the lining of the mouth.

During the trial Keeley’s dad Christopher Bunker, 51, told how Streete had even visited his house while his daughter was missing and lied about her whereabouts.

He told the court: ‘I said ‘do you know where Keeley is?’, he said ‘no’ and that he walked her to the phone box and went home.

‘I asked if she was drunk and he said ‘no’, he said he was more drunk than her.’

But Streete was caught on CCTV cameras walking through the park with Keeley, his DNA was also found on her body and her make up on his shirt.

The court was told he told ‘lie after lie’ claiming she was still alive when they parted ways but GPS date from his phone also showed he was in vicinity of the brook.

He also said he jumped on her back for a piggy back causing her to fall and fatally hit her head on a gatepost before saying he killed her by mistake during consensual sex.

Streete told the jury: ‘I was scared. I’ve never been in that position. I’ve just killed my mate. I put trees over her so you couldn’t see her naked.’

The locator map above shows where Keeley was found near Wigginton Park, in relation to where she went missing 

The court was told how the killer had moaned ‘I feel like you’re blaming me’ to police after they took his phone during their investigation.

Streete seemed more concerned about officers looking through his Google searches, than helping police find his missing friend.

He said: ‘I just don’t want them (the police) to laugh if they go through my Google.’

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Ms Bunker, who was 4ft 11 inches tall and weighed just six-and-a-half stone, had turned their attentions to the man who was last with her, ‘trusted’ friend Streete.

Streete, who towered over Ms Bunker, had been among a group of pals on a night out to Birmingham earlier the previous evening.

But arriving back in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in the early hours of September 19, 2019, they parted ways with another friend and then walked together towards Ms Bunker’s home, across town.

Police at the scene where Ms Bunker’s body was discovered in a pond in Wiggington Park, Tamworth, Staffordshire at around 9pm on September 19 last year

Ms Bunker was not seen alive again, and by the following evening, desperate searches were under way involving her family, close friends and police.

Streete was taken by police on a ride-along in a marked patrol car to retrace their movements, claiming all the while that when he and Ms Bunker had parted, she was still alive.

But as detectives’ suspicions grew, they told uniformed officers in the car to get Streete’s phone.

In the exchange, caught on a body-worn camera, Streete, who was sitting in the back of the police car alongside his mother and father, said: ‘I just feel like I’m getting the blame.

‘You said when I was at the house that all I needed to do was speak to the officer and then I could go and look for Keeley.

‘And then you take my phone off me.’

Officers, reassuring Streete, said: ‘There’s a lot of people involved in what is happening.

‘There’s people a lot higher up than us that are making decisions.’

Streete, pointing at his chest, replied: ‘When you’re going to take my phone, now I feel like you’re blaming me.’

A jury today took just over eight hours to convict the former warehouse packer, pictured

Asked for the phone’s pass-code, he gave them a wrong number, although the police switched off the handset immediately after getting the correct digits, to preserve the battery.

The conversation happened just as Jason Brown found the body of his niece in nearby Wigginton Park, face-down, partially submerged in a brook and concealed by tree branches.

An hour later, officers captured on their body-worn video the moment Streete, of no fixed address but previously of St Austell Close, Tamworth, was formally arrested for the murder.

Asked if he had any questions as he was being driven to the custody block at Cannock, he replied: ‘Not really.’

Jurors were told how later on in the journey Streete spoke of being hungry, and ‘asked if there was food to eat when he got there’.

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