The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)

‘DNA of murdered cop found on blender’

Man accused of dismemberi­ng victim and cooking body parts

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DNA from Highland policeman Gordon Semple, pictured, was found on a blender, chopping board and chopsticks in the home of his alleged killer, a court heard yesterday.

Stefano Brizzi is accused of killing the officer and putting him in an acid bath.

DNA from a Highland policeman was found on a blender, chopping board and chopsticks in thehome of his alleged killer, a court heard yesterday.

Stefano Brizzi is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of throttling Constable Gordon Semple, originally from Inverness, who he had met on gay dating app Grindr, and then attempting to dispose of the body in a variety of ways, including in an acid bath.

DNA from the alleged victim was found on the blender blade and also in a cooking pot and grease in the oven of the 50-year-old Italian’s kitchen, the Old Bailey heard.

Investigat­ors also found bite marks on a piece of bone recovered from the kitchen bin at Brizzi’s home, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett Q Csaid: “So, the defendant cannot have confined himself to dismemberi­ng Gordon Semple and disposing of his body either by acid in the bath or in the dustbin.

“Instead, the prosecutio­n suggest it would be open to the jury to find that the defendant cooked part of his body and ate it.”

Constable Semple, 59, was on duty when he arranged to meet Brizzi, via Grindr for drug-fuelled sex on April 1.

Following the alleged murder, neighbours on the Peabody Estate in south London noticed a “revolting smell” coming from Brizzi’s flat and police were

“I thought I was getting away with it”

alerted. Asked what was still at the flat, Brizzi said there was a foot, hand and leg “which I tried to roast as well”, the court was told.

Constable Semple’s head was at the flat but Brizzi flushed the lungs down the toilet, the court heard.

Some body parts were never recovered.

While in the custody suite after his arrest, Brizzi allegedly said: “I thought I was getting away with it.

“As you can see, this man was a very big man and all I have left is two buckets.”

Jurors heard that PC Semple and Brizzi engaged in sexual conduct that involved the alleged victim having a leash put around his neck. Mr Aylett said:“As the defendant did so, it is claimed that the leash slipped. It was then that the defendant realised that Mr Semple was not breathing.”

He added: “Whether it was done as part of some satanic ritual, or whether it occurred in the course of sexual activity – as the defendant now says – or whether any drugs that the defendant had taken had made him paranoid, the prosecutio­n allege that the defendant deliberate­ly strangled Gordon Semple.

“Having murdered him, he went on to dismember his body before attempting to dispose of it in circumstan­ces that amount to cannibalis­m.”

Brizzi denies murder but has admitted obstructin­g a coroner by dismemberi­ng and disposing of the body.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? MURDER ACCUSED: Stefano Brizzi purchases items at the Leyland Store in Southwark Street, London
MURDER ACCUSED: Stefano Brizzi purchases items at the Leyland Store in Southwark Street, London
 ??  ?? CCTV image of the victim leaving Blackfriar­s station
CCTV image of the victim leaving Blackfriar­s station
 ??  ?? Gordon Semple
Gordon Semple

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