Jury delivers verdict in disturbing body in barrel murder case

After deliberating for about two hours, a London jury returned on Tuesday night and found 41-year-old Ashley Bourget of London guilty of first degree murder in the gruesome case of a body that was found in a barrel.

After a lengthy trial which started in March, the court heard how one drug dealer killed another.

In July 2020, Bourget lured 59-year-old Grant Norton to her apartment on Adelaide Street South knowing that he had a substantial amount of cash - some estimated it was around $30,000.

Shortly after Norton got to Bourget’s apartment the jury heard how he was tied up and beaten with a baseball bat by Bourget and others.

She would later call the father of one of her children to help stuff the body in a large plastic barrel, and discard it by putting it on a lawnmower and pushing it down a ravine.

Days later the barrel along Norton’s body would be found in the barrel, wrapped in plastic at the side of the Thames River in the area of Jacqueline and Ada streets, not far from Bourget’s apartment.

The defence argued that Bourget was set up to take the fall for others involved in the drug deal.

However the Crown countered that she planned and carried out the murder.

A conviction of first degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence.

Bourget is expected to be sentenced by Justice Martha Cook on August 1.

The crown has maintained that the victim and the accused knew each other as drug dealers, and that Bourget killed Norton over money inside her apartment.

The defence claims that Bourget was set up to take the fall and that others killed Norton in her home.

Justice Martha Cook wrapped her charge to the jury late this afternoon.