Two men charged with manslaughter after teenage girl found dead in back of car after road crash

Jason Burder, 28, and Adam King, 27, in court following death of 16-year-old Megan Bannister

Megan Bannister (Family handout/PA)

Two men have been charged with manslaughter following the death of a teenager whose body was found in the back of a car following a crash.

Jason Burder, 28, and 27-year-old Adam King are due before magistrates in Leicester on Thursday.

Officers said Burder, of Braunstone Avenue, Leicester, and King, of Waltham Avenue, Leicester, have been charged with gross negligence manslaughter over the death of 16-year-old Megan Bannister.

She was discovered on the back seat of a black Vauxhall Astra, after a collision between a car and motorbike at about 11.45am on Sunday in Enderby, Leicestershire.

Police had said Bannister's injuries were "not consistent" with a car crash - leading to suspicion that she might have died elsewhere and the incident been staged. However, postmortem results proved inconclusive.

In a statement, the family of the teenager, who was from Leicester, said: “Megan was our beautiful, talented, loving daughter and sister, and our hearts have been utterly broken by her death.

“The thought of life without Megan is impossible to imagine, and we cannot adequately express in words the sense of numbness and overwhelming grief we feel at her loss.

“She was bright, clever, and a responsible person who loved her family and her many friends. She had a strong self-will and had set her heart on training to becoming a midwife.”

The family added: “Knowing how confident and determined she was, we have no doubt she would have realised that dream.

“As a family, we are doing our best to support one another at this harrowing time, and would respectfully ask that we are left alone to grieve in private without intrusion.”

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