ACCUSED STAYED SILENT WHEN QUIZZED OVER WOMAN’S DEATH
Murder suspect answered no questions
A STOKE-ON-TRENT man suspected of killing a woman in Devon remained silent when police quizzed him about her disappearance, his murder trial has been told.
Azam Mangori, of Dartmouth Street, Burslem, did not answer any questions from detectives trying to find out what had happened to Lorraine Cox after she went missing in Exeter on September 1 last year.
They conducted six interviews with him after his arrest and he remained silent throughout, even giving them the false name of Christopher Mayer, the jury heard.
Details of the interviews were revealed during Mangori’s trial for murder. The 24-year-old is accused of killing Ms Cox after the pair returned to his flat above a city centre kebab shop.
Mangori was arrested on September 8 after police confronted him with CCTV showing he was the last person to see her alive. He initially told them he was gay and had never invited a woman back to his flat. But after his arrest during formal interviews he said nothing, nodding only to confirm his identity as Christopher Mayer.
DC Darren Webb told the trial six interviews were conducted between September 9 and September 11 – the first just a few hours after human remains were discovered in bins at the back of the takeaway.
Questions put to Mangori included whether he knew where Ms Cox was, if he had caused her any harm, if she had had a medical episode, and about the body parts found in the bins.
The questions continued over the next two days but Mangori remained silent throughout.
DC Webb confirmed Mangori had a solicitor present during the interviews and an interpreter. Police believed the suspect, an Iraqi Kurd, spoke perfect English but had one present due to the importance of the investigation.
Ms Cox’s disappearance sparked a major search after she was reported missing by her father on September 3. The 32-year-old had been walking home in the early hours following a day drinking with friends. Police searched through hundreds of hours of city centre CCTV before finding evidence she encountered Mangori in High Street, Exeter, at about 2.15am.
The last sighting of her alive was with him outside his flat at 2.45am.
DC Webb compiled a timeline of Mangori’s movements, based on CCTV, in the days after she went missing. The jury has been told he made eight trips to shops to buy items including black bin bags, heaters, an air purifier, tape, and plastic sheeting. It is said he used them to dispose of Ms Cox’s body.
CCTV also showed Mangori making trips to the River Exe near the Mill on the Exe pub. He admits depriving Ms Cox of a lawful burial. He cut her body into pieces and disposed of it in tightly wrapped bin liners dumped behind the kebab shop and in woods about six miles from Exeter.
In the days after he allegedly killed Ms Cox, Mangori is said to have used the SIM card from her phone to send messages to family and friends pretending she was still alive.
The prosecution has said video and images found on his phone suggest he had an interest in amputations.
Dr Ian Cummings, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, told the jury he studied people who had what used to be known as sexual perversions but was now termed paraphilia.
He gave the trial a broad outline of a paraphilic disorder relating to amputations. He said such a fetish had been identified in the 1950s.
Acrotomophilia is the name given to people who have a sexual interest in amputees. “This is uncommon but it’s out there,” he said.
Adam Vaitilingam QC, for the defence, said of the 10,000 videos found on Mangori’s phone the prosecution had only identified three clips involving amputations and they were posted on a publicly available website. There was no evidence he had even watched them.
Dr Cummings said he had not been asked to assess whether Mangori had this particular disorder – only to give an outline of what it was – and he had not interviewed him. The trial is yet to hear defence evidence but it is expected Mangori will say Ms Cox, a diabetic, died suddenly of a medical episode, soon after she entered his flat. The trial will resume today.