Social worker in court accused of murdering Met cop and chopping up his body after meeting him on gay dating site
He was expected to give a plea today for the charge but this has been postponed
THE man accused of strangling a policeman to death after meeting him on gay dating app Grindr will stand trial in October.
Stefano Brizzi, an Italian social worker, is charged with murdering 59-year-old PC Gordon Semple in April.
He appeared at the Old Bailey today via videolink from Belmarsh prison wearing aviator Ray Ban sunglasses and a grey prison-issue tracksuit.
He spoke only to confirm his name and stayed seated during the short hearing, occasionally making notes.
The 50-year-old is accused of dismembering the policeman's body and dumping the pieces in the communal bins in his block of flats.
Neighbours called the police after noticing a "smell of death" a week after PC Semple disappeared.
The policeman from Greenhithe in Dartford was reported missing by his partner Gary Meeks on April 1, after he failed to come home.
Brizzi was due to enter a plea today to the charge of murder, but The Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, said the hearing will now take place on September 9.
A provisional date has been set October 18 for the trial, which is expected to last between seven and ten days.
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Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said at an earlier hearing: "'The defendant is charged with the murder of a police officer who he met, it would seem, through Grindr.
"The Crown allege the defendant strangled the victim then dismembered his body and disposed of some of the remains in the communal waste bins and in other ways."
After the family, from Inverness, Scotland, announced his death on Facebook, his brother, Ronnie Semple, said: "I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts during the past dreadful week.
"It has been a terrible time for us all, especially Gary.
"Gordon will be sadly missed by all of his immediate family, his colleagues in the Met Police, former Bank of Scotland colleagues in Inverness and London, friends from his Tartan Army Days, but most of all the hardest loss is for Gary at this time."
Brizzi, of the Peabody Estate, in Southwark Street, Bermondsey, south London, was remanded in custody.
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