‘Brad Pitt stunt double’ conman faces life for strangling ex-love
A “DANGEROUS” liar who claimed he had cancer and was Brad Pitt’s stunt double is facing life in jail for murdering his former love.
Kirill Belorusov strangled French film-maker Laureline GarciaBertaux, 34, before wrapping her naked body in bin bags and burying her in a flowerbed at her home.
He took just four minutes to throttle Miss Garcia-Bertaux with a cable before settling down to watch porn in her lounge in south-west London.
He was also caught on CCTV shopping for the items needed to dispose of her body, such as an axe, duct tape and rubble sacks.
Torturing
In an effort to cover his tracks, Belorusov, 32, posed as his victim and sent texts to her best friend before fleeing to his native Estonia.
Yesterday, an Old Bailey jury took fewer than two hours to find him guilty of murder.
During the four-week trial, the court heard Belorusov delighted in mentally torturing Miss GarciaBertaux, who he had dated for eight years before they split in 2017.
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow told how he “rubbished and demeaned her whenever he could” then pretended to be battling cancer to win back her sympathy.
Jurors heard that after their split, the couple stayed in touch as Belorusov owed Miss GarciaBertaux a lot of money. But in the end, he ran out of lies to avoid repaying it. “Laureline was a problem that had to be removed,” Mr Glasgow told the court.
“The only way to do that was to silence her once and for all. And, as a bonus, he walked away with the money he owed her. It is difficult to conceive of someone behaving in a more callous, calculating manner.”
In the weeks before the killing, the court heard how Belorusov lied to Miss Garcia-Bertaux about finding her a new flat, swindled another woman out of £11,000 after telling her he had cancer and splashed out £400 on wining and dining a nightclub worker.
He later boasted of his knowledge of death holds and grabbed the terrified nightclub worker by the throat, squeezing so hard she almost passed out. Beth Penman, Miss Garcia-Bertaux’s best friend, condemned Belorusov’s “monstrous untruths” in court and said he had manipulated women by falsely claiming to have cancer for years.
In a statement, she said: “He should never have the opportunity to walk as a free man ever again.
“Kirill Belorusov is a danger to society, but especially to women.”
Miss Garcia-Bertaux, originally from Aix-en-Provence, was reported missing on March 5 after she failed to turn up for work.
Police found her body buried in the garden of her home in Kew the following day.
Sorrow
Although phone evidence placed Belorusov near the scene at the time of Miss Garcia-Bertaux’s killing, he denied murder.
He claimed he had been drinking beer and eating pork scratchings on a nearby park bench until 7.30am.
In an impact statement, the victim’s mother Frederique Bertaux said: “There is not a moment during the day that I do not think of my Laureline.
“It is incredibly hard to even begin to describe my sorrow. It is a constant pain that nothing can relieve.”
Miss Garcia-Bertaux was a London-based film producer. Her credits included Gerry, a 2018 short starring Dame Joan Collins.
Belorusov, of no fixed address, will be sentenced on Friday.