MAN MURDERED WOMAN AND CUT UP HER BODY INTO PIECES
Killer watched videos on amputation and how to dig a grave
A FORMER Burslem man has been convicted of murdering and dismembering a woman who went missing on a night out.
Azam Mangori, 24, killed Lorraine Cox, 32, in his room above a kebab shop in Exeter last September. She could have been suffocated as the T-shirt she had been wearing was found in her mouth.
The Iraqi national cut her body into seven pieces over the course of a week and disposed of her clothing and possessions in bins and woodland. He then used her SIM card in his mobile phone to pretend she was alive and well to family and friends. They reported her missing to the police.
Following a four-week trial at Exeter Crown Court, Mangori, of no fixed address but formerly of formerly of Dartmouth Street, Burslem, was convicted of murder by a jury after six hours of deliberations.
He had previously admitted a separate charge of preventing Miss Cox’s lawful burial.
Miss Cox was last seen walking home from a night out with friends at about 1.30am on September 1.
Prosecutors said a drunken Miss Cox and Mangori had a ‘sexual encounter’ in an alleyway before they went back to his flat.
Her whereabouts remained a mystery for a week until Mangori
– a failed asylum seeker liable to deportation – was arrested.
Prosecutor Simon Laws QC told the court he had a ‘morbid interest in amputation’ and days before and after the murder had looked at images relating to the subject.
Mr Laws said: “Given the dates he viewed this material, you may think it is clear he was interested in the topic before he had any need for information. He did not have the dead body of Lorraine Cox in his room until a couple of days later.
“When he did, he performed a neat and professional amputation of her limbs.”
Mangori looked at videos of people with amputations, as well as those with deformities to their legs and one of a woman’s lower leg experiencing cramp.
“You will no doubt want to consider whether it was this interest that may have motivated him to commit this murder,” he said.
Mangori also bought items to dispose of Miss Cox’s body over several days after viewing a website entitled: “How to dig a grave by hand.”
A pathologist was unable to determine a cause of Miss Cox’s death due to the length of time between her murder and remains being found.
Mangori told the jury she died suddenly after sex in his bedroom having been drinking and taking drugs. He said he panicked when he found her dead on the floor. Mangori, who was remanded into custody, will be sentenced on Wednesday. Assistant Chief Constable Jim Colwell, of Devon and Cornwall Police said Miss Cox’s murder was ‘callous and brutal’. He added: “Violence against anyone, especially a vulnerable woman like Lorraine, is abhorrent.”
Miss Cox’s family said in a statement: “We hope and pray that no other woman or family has to go through what our beautiful girl suffered.”