Of all the appalling deaths in Kings Cross this one was the strangest for years – the body of an Italian man Sebastiano Magnanini (pictured), found last autumn in a shopping trolley in Regents Canal. (There’s a (very) Guardian background piece here) Now Michael Walsh of Wharfdale Road, right next to the canal pleads guilty to preventing the lawful burial of a body.  But we still don’t know how Mr Magnanini died. The police say:

Three men have pleaded guilty to offences in connection with the death of a man whose body was recovered from Regent’s Canal.

Paul Williams, 61 of no fixed abode, and Michael Walsh, 41 of Wharfdale Road, N1 pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of body.

Walsh and Daniel Hastie, 22 of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

All three admitted the offences on Tuesday, 5 January at Blackfriars Crown Court. They will be sentenced at the same court on 5 February.

Police were called by a member of the public at 09:07hrs on Thursday, 24 September to reports of a body submerged in the canal, close to the entrance of Islington Tunnel.

The body was identified as 46-year-old Sebastiano Magnanini, originally from Italy, who had been living and working in south London.

A post-mortem examination took place at the Whittington Hospital on Friday, 25 September, and the cause of death remains unknown at this stage. Further toxicology tests are currently taking place.

Three men have been arrested in connection with his death and have been dealt with as above.

Enquiries are still underway into the circumstances of Mr Magnanini’s death.

Also reported over at The Guardian, The Standard