Woman who murdered friend and dumped body in Devon to be sentenced on TV

The Old Bailey heard that Jemma Mitchell killed Mee Kuen Chong in June last year

The moment Jemma Mitchell was arrested
Author: Emily Pennink, PA Old Bailey Correspondent & Sophie SquiresPublished 28th Oct 2022

A self-styled healer will become the first woman to be sentenced on UK television after being found guilty of murdering her friend and dumping her body in Devon.

Jemma Mitchell hit 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong over the head with a weapon at her London home in June last year, it was alleged.

Two weeks later, she drove more than 200 miles to the seaside town of Salcombe, where she left Ms Chong's headless body in woods.

The prosecution claimed 38-year-old Mitchell had planned to murder the vulnerable divorcee and fake her will to inherit the bulk of her estate - worth more than £700,000.

She came up with the plan after Ms Chong, who was known as Deborah, backed out of giving her £200,000 to pay for repairs to Mitchell's £4 million dilapidated family home, jurors were told.

The trained osteopath had denied having anything to do with Ms Chong's death - but declined to give evidence at her trial.

Mitchell stood impassively in the dock as she was found guilty of murder while Ms Chong's family in Malaysia watched the verdict via a video link.

On Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC will be broadcast handing down his sentence at the Old Bailey.

It is only the second time cameras have been allowed into an English criminal crown court to record a sentencing, and the first in which the defendant is a woman.

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