A woman accused of killing a friend was caught on CCTV footage hauling a distinctive-looking blue suitcase around which allegedly carried the victim's body, a court has heard. Jemma Mitchell, 38 is on trial for the murder of Mee Kuen Chong, 67 who was found dead with her head decapitated on June 27 last year in Salcombe, Devon.
Her detached skull was later discovered in nearby vegetation several days later, the Mirror reports. Prosecutors claim Mitchell murdered Ms Chong in her home in Wembley, London that the woman shared with her lodger, David Klein, on June 11 and disposed of her corpse in Devon just over a fortnight later.
On Thursday, jurors at the trial, which is taking place at the Old Bailey, observed CCTV clips which showed Ms Chong's last known sighting as she appears to go a leisurely walk down Chaplin Road with Mr Klein, where they lived on June 9. Just before 6.30am on June 11, property developer Mitchell was seen on video walking from her address in Brondesbury Park in Willesden with a large blue suitcase and backpack.
She arrived in Chaplin Road at 8.01am and emerged just over five hours later at 1.13pm carrying the blue suitcase and another smaller bag allegedly containing Ms Chong's financial paperwork. The jury was shown CCTV images of her dragging the bags on the street and through a grass verge for two hours before being picked up by a minicab.
In that time, jurors heard she had called various cab companies nine times before a driver collected her for the 40-minute journey home. She was dropped outside her next door neighbour's house and then transferred the suitcases from the driveway to her home, it is claimed.
Later that evening, she went to St Thomas's Hospital in central London to be treated for a broken finger, saying she shut it in a door - a claim the prosecution say is a lie. The court heard the blue suitcase was not seen again until June 26 last year.
That day, it is alleged Mitchell hired a car and drove to Salcombe with the body in the suitcase stashed in the boot. Jurors have heard that Mitchell allegedly murdered Ms Chong because she wanted to get hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for repairs to her home.
Mitchell has denied murder and the trial continues.
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