Woman murdered friend and stuffed her body inside suitcase which she dragged along London streets for two hours, court told | UK News
A woman murdered a churchgoer and dumped her headless body more than 200 miles away before forging her will to try to inherit her estate, a court has said. .
According to the Old Bailey, Jemma Mitchell, 38, killed 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong and stuffed her body in a blue suitcase that she dragged through the streets of London for two hours.
Mitchell allegedly failed in an attempt to extract £200,000 from Ms Chong to pay for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, north-west London.
After Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, Mitchell killed her and dumped her body during a 500-mile round trip to Salcombe in Devon in June 2021, the jury said.
She then began falsifying the will on her computer so that she could inherit most of Ms. Chong’s fortune, prosecutors claimed.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the fake will was uncovered during a search of the defendant’s home.
Ms Chong’s true will – to leave her house to the church and the rest to family and charity – was found at the victim’s home in Wembley, the court said. .
“The motive was clear: money,” Ms Heer told jurors.
Prosecutors allege Mitchell killed Ms. Chong on June 11, 2021 at the victim’s home – after carrying a large blue suitcase with her.
Ms Heer continued: “Having killed or at least injured the deceased, she needed to get rid of her body and so she put it in the blue suitcase.”
Jemma Mitchell on Chaplin Road, northwest London, pulls a blue suitcase on June 11, 2021. Photo: CCTV image
Ms Heer said at 1pm on June 11, Mitchell was caught on camera walking from Ms Chong’s home with a suitcase that appeared to be “a lot heavier” than when she arrived.
She was also pulling another suitcase, Ms. Chong’s, believed to be holding documents relating to her financial affairs.
Mitchell was caught on CCTV dragging the bags on the street and across a grassy bank for two hours before being picked up by a minicab.
At the time, jurors heard, she called different taxi companies nine times before a driver picked her up on the 40-minute journey home.
She crashed outside the next-door neighbor’s house and then moved the suitcase from the driveway to her home, it is confirmed.
Jemma Mitchell as she walks into a service station shop near Bristol. Pictures from CCTV
The defendant is then said to have rented a car on June 26 of last year.
‘Unusual smell’
Mitchell picked up a rental Volvo and was caught on CCTV packing a large blue suitcase in the trunk before setting off for the Southwest. The car was seen on CCTV at a garage in Malborough.
Footage showed a tire that had been “torn apart”, jurors said. Mitchell borrowed a customer’s phone to call a recovery company. The repairman noticed the luggage was in the trunk but it didn’t match the description of the blue suitcase.
Ms Heer said the repairman opened the back door and noticed an “unusual smell – musty and damp”.
The car was then seen on CCTV near where the body was dumped, jurors heard.
It is assumed that Mitchell returned home to London the next day with the blue suitcase.
Mee Kuen Chong. Pictured: Devon and Cornwall Police
The worshipers found the decapitated body
Ms. Chong’s decapitated body was found by holidaymakers shortly before 5pm on June 27 last year, and her skull was discovered in the nearby jungle a few days later.
An autopsy revealed a skull fractured by “significant blunt force” and 20 rib fractures “most likely” caused prior to death.
Police recovered a blue suitcase on a neighbor’s roof, with a blood test on a tea towel inside a trouser pocket testing the victim’s DNA.
In one bedroom was a false will, with the intention of leaving 95% of Ms. Chong’s estate to the defendant to carry out her home project and 5% to Mitchell’s mother, the court also heard.
Mitchell has denied murder, saying the death had nothing to do with her. The trial continued.
