Man convicted of manslaughter for death of Brighton student Janet Muller

A man has been cleared of murdering 21-year-old Brighton student Janet Muller, but was found guilty of manslaughter.

Janet was found in the boot of a burnt out vehicle dumped on a road near Horsham in March last year.

Mr. Jeffrey-Shaw admitted he was ordered to set the car alight by drug dealers, but claimed he did not known Janet Muller was in the car.

Jeffrey-Shaw was found guilty of manslaughter

After the 27-year-old was cleared of murder, he was found guilty of manslaughter for the death of the Brighton student.

Despite Jeffrey-Shaw admitting to torching the car, he claims he had no idea that anyone was inside of it.

He argued that drug dealers had told him to set the car alight or face being shot by them.

Philip Bennetts, the judge of the case, said that Ms Muller had been suffering mental health problems and had been admitted to Mill View Hospital in Hove before going missing on the evening of 12th of March.

He said that she was last seen approaching an unidentified car in Hove at 1.15am on 13th of March.

When initially arrested and interviewed, Mr Bennetts said that Jeffrey-Shaw answered “no comment” to everything in his interview with detectives but then later gave statement denying the murder of Ms Muller.

Mr Bennetts reported that Jeffrey-Shaw claimed that he lent his car to drug dealers, and on returning it, they demanded for him to torch it. Bennetts turned to the victims family, saying that there are “no winners in a trial”.

Speaking after the hearing, DSI Karen Mizzi of the Sussex and Surrey major crime squad said that she wanted to pay tribute to the bravery of Janet Muller’s family.

She said that it was a “horrific case” on a vulnerable woman who “had her whole life ahead of her”, but added she respected the decision of the jury in this case.

Janet Muller was described by a spokesman for the University of Brighton as a “bright, sparky and witty student who loved football” and saying that all her lecturers “believed she had a bright future ahead”. T

hey said that her loss was “felt widely across the university” and that “she will not be forgotten”.

Mr Jeffrey-Shaw will be sentenced on Friday.