A homeless man has denied assisting in the disposal of a dead body to impede the apprehension of a murder suspect and is due to stand trial next year.
Officers have been trawling a landfill site in Essex for the body of Cumali Turhan, 45, who was last seen in Chelmsford in the early hours of November 19 and is feared murdered.
Essex Police said 38-year-old Ceyhan Dinler, who left the UK from London Stansted Airport the day Mr Turhan was last in contact with anyone, is wanted in connection with Mr Turhan’s disappearance.
Cumali Turhan, who went missing and is believed by police to have been murdered (Essex Police/PA)
A second man, Ciprian Ilie, appeared before Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday charged with assisting an offender.
The 44-year-old, of no fixed address, wore a grey prison-issue tracksuit and wiped tears from his eyes as he appeared in the secure dock.
Ilie was assisted by a Romanian interpreter as the court clerk read the two charges to him.
He pleaded not guilty to a count of assisting an offender between November 18 and November 20 2024.
In the charge, read by the clerk, it was alleged that Ilie “without lawful authority or reasonable excuse did an act, namely assisted in the disposal of the body of Cumali Turhan with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of Ceyhan Dinler who had committed the arrestable offence of murder, knowing or believing him to be guilty of the offence or some other arrestable offence”.
Ilie pleaded not guilty and said, through the interpreter who stood beside him: “I didn’t do anything.”
He also pleaded not guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body.
Ceyhan Dinler, who is wanted in connection with the disappearance of Cumali Turhan and who police say has left the country (Essex Police/PA)
The charge, read by the clerk, alleged that between the same dates Ilie “prevented the lawful and decent burial of the body of Cumali Turhan”.
Mr Turhan was last seen in the early hours of November 19 when he was in The Globe pub in Rainsford Road, Chelmsford, police said.
The force said information suggests Mr Turhan may have been in Barista, a bar and restaurant in Duke Street, after he was at The Globe, but that CCTV does not show him leaving Barista.
He was reported missing to police on the evening of November 19 after he did not arrive at work.
Officers searched a refuse transfer site in the Chelmsford area, before beginning a wider search of a 5,000 square metre area of a landfill site on November 27.
Judge Christopher Morgan remanded Ilie in custody until September 15 2025 when he is due to stand trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
The time estimate for the trial is five days, and Ilie is due to appear back before the court for a case management hearing on April 25.