A man has been found guilty of murder after he stabbed his flatmate to death and lived with his body for six weeks while using his bank card.

Matthew Chibnall, 55, killed his friend Anil Vegad, 57, in their flat on Eden Street, in Coventry. He then used his bank cards to buy alcohol until his victim’s funds ran out.

With no money left, he turned himself into the police on June 1. Officers found Mr Vegad dead in a chair in the living room, with a stab wound to his back and two other ‘deep’ knife marks in the furniture.

Chibnall claimed Mr Vegad had been behaving erratically and he had used the knife to get his attention as they drank together on Easter Monday. He told the police that his victim, who was a father, had collapsed the next day.

While being charged with murder, he told officers: ’If you do the crime, you gotta do the time I suppose’, before later going on to deny his actions were deliberate.

Chibnall was convicted of murder at Coventry Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.

In a statement, Mr Vegad’s family described how ‘devastated’ they were by his death.

They said:

‘Although justice has been served, this will never bring our dad back. He was a loving, kind and generous person.

‘Whenever our dad walked into a room he would light it up. Our dad was well known in the community and well loved by everyone. Our dad will be deeply missed but never forgotten, he will always be in our hearts.’

Detective Inspector Hannah Whitehouse, from our homicide team, said: ‘We may never know exactly what happened in that flat which led to Mr Vegad being fatally stabbed. We believe he thrust the knife deep into the chair twice and then into Mr Vegad.

Mr Vegad was described as being a ‘loving, kind and generous person’ (

‘Chibnall could have immediately called emergency services and potentially saved his friend’s life. However, he just let Mr Vegad die and stole his card to buy alcohol in the weeks after his death.

‘We were able to prove he intended to kill or seriously harm Mr Vegad, as a result he now faces a life sentence for murder.’