This is the moment a ‘self-serving coward’ cried to detectives after leaving his friend dying in his bed for more than 30 hours after taking drugs and having sex with her.
Ryan Sheridan was filmed on police bodycam footage speaking about Kimberley McAssey while his mother came in and out of the room and tried to console him.
Sheridan, 34, of Prestwich, Greater Manchester, refused to attend an inquest into Ms McAssey’s death at Rochdale Coroners’ Court this week despite being summonsed.
He is now in prison for a Class A drug supply offence and was accused by a coroner of a ‘blatant disregard’ for his friend who died at his flat nearly four years ago.
Sheridan was the sole witness to what happened – with the inquest relying on accounts given by Sheridan to police, paramedics and his mother Emma Heydon.
Ms Heydon was the first person Sheridan told about Ms McAssey’s death, in a phone call at 10.43am on February 21, 2021, reported the Manchester Evening News.
But it was another 80 minutes before she called 999 to report Ms McAssey’s death, which Coroner Joanne Kearsley concluded took place by 6am the day before.
The coroner also said this delay contributed to her having to record an open conclusion on Tuesday, after Ms McAssey’s post-mortem proved inconclusive.
Ryan Sheridan speaks about Kimberley McAssey at his flat in Prestwich in February 2021
Kimberley McAssey died at the flat in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, in February 2021
In the bodycam footage, which was shown in court, PC Nicola Jones asks Sheridan to tell her what happened in the events leading up to Ms McAssey’s death.
As he struggles to begin giving his account, Ms Heydon tells the officer: ‘It’s the fact she’s been there since yesterday.’
Sheridan discusses his version of events, telling police that Ms McAssey asked if he had ‘anything to take’, before they took some MDMA.
He describes how they moved from watching the TV show Benidorm in the living room to the bedroom, where they had sex.
He tells police he then ‘chilled with her’ and asked her if she needed anything, before spending around ‘an hour’ typing Facebook statuses up in the living room, before noticing something was wrong with Ms McAssey.
‘I’ve gone in the bedroom and lied next to her, wondering why she hasn’t come in,’ Sheridan said.
‘I’ve gone in, lay there, next to her for about half an hour, 40 minutes, and I just thought I’d give her a kiss, I’ll make sure she’s alright, and put my hand on her… and nothing was right.
‘I kissed her and she was cold, and… I just… I tried giving her CPR and pushed her chest, I was saying ‘no, no’.’
A tribute to Kimberley McAssey outside her Prestwich home after her death in February 2021
A balloon tribute for Kimberley McAssey outside her home in Prestwich in February 2021
The conversation took place a week after an allegation of assault was made against Sheridan, involving his former partner.
Sheridan, who was on bail at the time and later admitted the offence, discusses this in the clip – and cited concerns about it when asked by police to explain the 30-hour delay to notify emergency services about Ms McAssey.
Giving her findings after two days of evidence, Ms Kearsley found inaccuracies in the accounts given by Sheridan, particularly regarding Ms McAssey’s welfare at the time following sexual intercourse.
‘Whilst Mr Sheridan has attempted at times to suggest Kim spoke to him afterwards, I do not find this to be accurate,’ the coroner said.
‘On balance I am satisfied that the likely scenario is that Kim by the end of sexual intercourse [was] virtually unresponsive.’
Ms Kearsley found that it would be ‘unsafe’ to record Ms McAssey’s death as being caused by drugs, due to Sheridan’s actions in delaying the call to 999 and his ‘assault of previous partners’.
The property in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, where Kimberley McAssey died in 2021
While Sheridan referred to a ‘tiny bit’ of MDMA, a toxicology report found the level of the drug in Ms McAssey’s system ‘above that which you would expect to see if taken recreationally’.
But the inconclusive post-mortem meant her family were left with unanswered questions after the inquest.
The coroner added of Sheridan: ‘His self-serving cowardice, which persists to this day, demonstrates a blatant disregard for Kimberley.’
Karrie McAssey, Ms McAssey’s mother, described her daughter as ‘cheeky, funny, silly, one in a million’.
She added: ‘She was a child at heart no matter her age. Her smile changed the world and she never let the world change her smile.
‘She was her own person and that’s what made Kim so special. We love and miss Kim so very much. Kim leaving us has turned our lives upside down and has destroyed our family.’
