Evidence of accused in murder trial ‘ludicrous’ says lawyer
THE evidence against the prime suspect in the Lorraine Cox murder case is so strong that the jury can be sure of his guilt, his trial has been told.
Azam Mangori, 24, lied to police when he was arrested and changed his story to suit the evidence, the prosecutor in the case said.
Simon Laws QC made his closing remarks yesterday to the jury in a trial, now into its fifth week at Exeter Crown Court.
He said the body of evidence proved Mangori murdered Lorraine above the Bodrum Kebab House in Exeter and then – while her body was in his room – lied to her family and friends that she was still alive.
“The prosecution say to you the evidence points decisively in one way,” said Mr Laws. “This defendant murdered Lorraine Cox and you can discount any alternative.”
He said the one important issue for the jury to resolve is did the defendant kill her or did she just die in his room.
Lorraine had been drinking with friends when she disappeared in the city centre in the early hours of September 1 last year. CCTV traced her final contact to Mangori and the pair were captured going into his room above the kebab shop at 2.45am.
The prosecution say that, once inside Mangori killed Lorraine, either by strangulation or by putting a vest top into her mouth. He says she dropped dead after taking drink and drugs.
Mr Laws said: “There is no evidence she died a medical death.”
He told the jury they had spent weeks hearing the evidence and soon it would be time to consider a verdict to the charge of murder, an allegation the defendant denies.
He said there was “not one shred of evidence saying she died of a medical death.
“When you balance the two competing arguments in this case, you can safely conclude this is murder.”
He took the jury through a series of questions which, he said, pointed conclusively to Mangori’s guilt.
He asked the jury to think about how Lorraine ended up in the defendant’s room that night, why Mangori recorded their sexual encounter in an alleyway near John Lewis, why did he not get help after she died and what was his state of mind.
He said the defendant’s account that he panicked and later suffered some sort of mental breakdown which left him confused about whether the body was real or just tobacco could not be relied upon.
“It’s ludicrous,” he said. “We can’t prove it’s not true but then again we can’t prove there aren’t fairies at the bottom of the garden. This story from start to finish is nothing but ludicrous.”
He added: “It tells you he has lied to you. He has lied to you for a purpose and the purpose is he does not want to talk to you about the topic and the reason is because he knows the truth.”
Mr Laws said, rather than panicking, Mangori’s actions, which included going to the shops to buy items to dispose of the body and sending messages using her SIM card, betrayed someone with a “methodical mind”.
The defendant admits cutting up Lorraine’s body into seven pieces. Parts were later discovered by police in bins at the back of the kebab shop and at Tinpit Hill, six miles outside the city.
“The gruesome nature of the task did not put him off,” said the prosecutor. A forensic pathologist said the dismemberment had been done neatly by someone who appeared to have some knowledge.
Mr Laws added: “What he did to her body are the actions of a killer, just as we say what he did with her phone are the actions of a killer – not a panicking young man in a state of crisis.”
Lorraine’s disappearance sparked a large missing-person search. Friends of Lorraine put up posters around the city asking for information. It was not until September 8 that police, using CCTV, traced her final moments to Mangori and the kebab shop.
As he was led away, Mangori said to officers: ‘Why is it only me being arrested’. “The purpose was to deflect attention to others at the Bodrum Kebab House,” said Mr Laws. “We know now, and it is not disputed, that they are all wholly innocent in all this, but back on September 8 the police had no such knowledge and it was his last roll of the dice.”
Mr Laws will conclude his speech today. Mr Adam Vaitilingam QC, for the defence, will address the jury for a final time before the judge sums up the case. Mangori denies murder.