The man who confessed that he had killed and burnt the body of another man in an industrial oven at a bakery died recently after complaining that he was being haunted by ghosts.

He has been identified as Vincent Phipps, 49-year-old baker of a Corporate Area address.

Reports from the St Andrew Central police are that Phipps was taken into their custody on October 29 in connection with the death of Oneil Douglas.

Douglas' body was found in an industrial oven at a bakery in the Corporate Area. A police source told THE STAR that days after Phipps was taken into custody, he started to behave rather strangely.

"Him seh dat duppy box him down and him see a spirit in the cell and a woman and a baby was standing over him," the police source said.

The police source also commented that at first, "everybody thought a fool him was forming, until seemingly unexplainable things started happening to him. They however still moved him from his initial cell and kept him elsewhere.

THE STAR understands that following this Phipps lost the use of his legs and became unable to walk unassisted. He is said to have had to rely on persons to lift him and carry him to the bathroom as he said, "him couldn't bend him knees," the source pointed out.

psychiatric treatment

The police source said that Phipps was later taken for psychiatric treatment at the Bellevue hospital, however he showed no signs of mental illness.

"The psychiatrist said he could not see any problem with him," the source added. The accused man however died at the Kingston Public Hospital on Saturday after he was taken there.

Up to press time last night, checks by THE STAR to find out the cause of death were unsuccessful and the date of the autopsy was not yet known.

Phipps had surrendered himself to the police and confessed to killing Douglas only days after the body was found.