Body of beheaded pensioner found with biblical quote on handwritten note after ‘friend decapitated her’
THE body of a beheaded pensioner was found with a handwritten bible quote tucked inside one of her jacket pockets, a court heard.
Former osteopath Jemma Mitchell, 38, allegedly battered Mee Kuen Chong, 67, to death before decapitating her and dumping her body more than 250 miles away in Salcombe, Devon.
Mitchell needed at least £400,000 after a project to add an extra storey to her home in Willesden, North West London, ended in disaster, it was said.
She had been pressuring vulnerable Ms Chong, known to her friends as Deborah, to give her the money by doing a deal on her home, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
The pair were devout Christians who met through the church and had known each other since about August 2020, jurors were told.
When Ms Chong refused, Mitchell launched her fatal attack, it is claimed.
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The head was found ten metres away and had been "cleanly cut" from the rest of the body.
Mitchell had been a brilliant medical student and won a prestigious prize for her knowledge of the human body.
She murdered Ms Chong at the victim's home by battering her over the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, on 11 June last year, it is claimed.
Mitchell then allegedly moved the body to her half-derelict house and kept it there for two weeks before driving to Devon in a rented Volvo.
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After the killing, she made herself the main beneficiary of the victim's will, jurors heard.
Ms Chong's body was discovered on June 27 by a family on holiday.
Home Office pathologist Deborah Cook told jurors today she found a handwritten note containing a quote from the bible in Ms Chong's jacket pocket when she examined the body at the scene.
Dr Cook was informed by Devon and Cornwall Constabulary on 27 June last year that a "headless female body" had been found in Salcombe, the court heard.
She arrived at the scene at 11pm that night to examine the body.
Ms Chong was wearing a multi-coloured pattern dress underneath a black quilted M&S zip-up jacket when she was found.
Jurors heard that the left pocket of the jacket contained an Oyster Card and business cards for a GP, dentist and an Evangelical church in London.
The right-hand pocket contained scraps of paper which appeared to be torn from a spiral-bound notepad.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, said: "Those pieces of paper had writing on them including a quote from the bible."
The pensioner was also found next to a handbag and wearing gladiator sandals.
Dr Cook said that one of the handbag's straps was "fastened underneath" one of Ms Chong's shoe straps.
Inside the handbag, jurors heard there was a tote bag, camera and a "length of orange nylon rope".
Asked about the victim's neck, Dr Cook said: "It was apparent that the head and at least the first two bones that form the spine, that is the first and second cervical vertebrae, were absent."
Jurors heard that the pathologist discovered the third cervical vertebrae was also missing when she examined Ms Chong's body in the mortuary the next day.
Additionally, "laryngeal structures", which form the Adam's Apple, were also missing.
Dr Cook told the jury that there was no evidence of an attempted hanging and that she did not see blood at the scene.
There was "intermittent heavy rain" that night, the court heard.
Mitchell, of Brondesbury Park, Willesden, Northwest London, denies murder.
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She will claim the killing was "absolutely nothing to do with her," the court has heard.
The trial continues.