Jury retires to consider verdicts in trial of man accused of suitcase murders
The man is accused of killing two people and dumping their remains in suitcases near Clifton Suspension Bridge
A jury has retired in the trial of a man who is accused of killing two people and dumping their remains in suitcases near Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, is charged with the murders of civil partners Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, on July 8 last year in their flat in Scotts Road, Shepherd's Bush, west London.
Mosquera, who was also staying with the couple, "decapitated and dismembered" them, froze parts of their remains and brought the rest in suitcases to Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol before stealing from them, according to the prosecution.
He is alleged to have repeatedly stabbed Mr Alfonso, who suffered injuries to his torso, face and neck, while Mr Longworth was attacked with a hammer to the back of his head and his skull shattered, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court have heard.
Mr Alfonso enjoyed "extreme sex" and Mosquera, a Colombian national whom he met online years earlier, was part of that world, jurors heard.
Mr Alfonso was stabbed to death during a filmed session, with footage shown in court recording Mosquera singing and dancing in the aftermath of the attack.
Mosquera's plan was to hurl the suitcases over the bridge to dispose of the remains after the "calculated" and "premeditated" killings, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said.
Mosquera admits killing Mr Alfonso but claims it was manslaughter by reason of loss of control.
He has pleaded not guilty to murdering both men and insists Mr Alfonso killed Mr Longworth.
Mosquera has told the jury he feared for his own life and believed he was about to be killed when he stabbed Mr Alfonso.
The defendant claims that he thought Mr Alfonso would do to him what he claims he had already done to Mr Longworth, he felt "intimidated" and threats had been made to his family in Colombia.