KILLER IN CUFFS
Dramatic moment killer Jemma Mitchell is arrested for beheading woman as 999 call reveals how victim’s body was found
THIS is the dramatic moment a warped killer was arrested for beheading a pensioner as a chilling 999 call reveals how her victim's body was found.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, killed and beheaded 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong, who was also known as Deborah, before dumping her corpse.
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The sick killer bludgeoned the OAP in a row over £200,000 and was found guilty of murder today at the Old Bailey.
Jurors heard how Mitchell kept Mee at her house for two weeks after the murder - in which time she made herself beneficiary of her friend's will.
The heartless killer then moved her body 250 miles away to Salcombe, Devon, in a rented Volvo.
Once there, she callously dumped Mee's headless corpse in woodland before making the long journey home.
Footage released by the Metropolitan Police showed the moment cops smashed down Mitchell's door before putting the depraved killer in cuffs.
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A bedraggled Mitchell seemed lost for words as she was read her rights by officers and realised she was being arrested.
Mitchell was also captured on film wheeling churchgoer Mee's body in a suitcase to her dilapidated home in Brent, North London.
She had arrived with the large blue suitcase, knowing Mee, who was 5ft 2in tall and weighed only seven stone, would fit inside.
The pensioner's lifeless body was found with a chilling biblical note left inside her black quilted M&S zip-up jacket, a court heard.
Inside the devout Christian's handbag was a tote bag, camera and a "length of orange nylon rope".
And the moment a bystander stumbled upon the corpse was also revealed by cops.
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In the recorded 999 call, a woman can be heard saying that they had "just found a body" on Bennett Road, Salcombe.
The shaken woman can be heard describing the corpse as possibly lying there for a "few days".
Killer Mitchell has now been convicted of murder following a trial at the Old Bailey before being remanded into custody.
Standing in the dock, Mitchell appeared impassive and closed her eyes briefly as the verdict was delivered.
Wearing a loose white shirt under an off-white cardigan, she smiled when her barrister Richard Jory KC told her the jury had reached a decision.
But upon hearing the jury's unanimous guilty verdict the monster murderer looked stunned.
Mee was reported missing from her home in Wembley, North London, on June 11 with her body discovered by holidaymakers in Devon 17 days later.
Her head was found ten metres away in undergrowth and had been "cleanly cut" from the rest of the body.
A post mortem was carried out but a cause of death could not be determined due to decomposition.
But the torso appeared to have been cut and there were signs of assault - including a skull fracture that suggested "significant impact by a blunt object very shortly before death".
She was missing three bones from her spine and "laryngeal structures", which form the Adam's Apple, were also missing.
A pathologist said there was no evidence of an attempted hanging and she did not see blood at the scene.
'TRULY DESPICABLE'
Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood, who led the investigation, described it as a "truly despicable crime".
He said: "The motivation for Jemma Mitchell's actions was money and she showed a significant degree of planning and calculation as she attempted to cover up her horrific actions.
"The cold facts of this case are shocking.
“Deborah Chong was a vulnerable lady – in the weeks before her murder, she was seeking help for her declining mental health.
"However, Mitchell - so desperate to obtain the money she needed to complete the renovations on her house - sought to take advantage of Deborah's good will, but when Deborah changed her mind, she callously murdered her and embarked upon an attempt to fraudulently obtain her estate.
“What is clear is that Mitchell – seeing her chance to obtain the funds she so desperately desired disappear – decided to attack and murder a vulnerable lady for her own gain in a truly despicable crime.”
Mitchell had studied Human Sciences at Kings College London where she gained a first class degree and a special prize for anatomical excellence.
She went on to study osteopathy in Australia and her professional website stated that as a result of her training she was "attuned to subjects in neuroanatomy, genetics and dissection of human cadavers".
The cold-hearted killer befriended Mee through church but they had recently "fallen out" over money.
She wanted £200,000 from her pal to help pay for repairs to her home, which was missing a roof and piled high with rubbish, but Mee refused.
Mee had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and struggled with her mental health, the trial at the Old Bailey heard.
On the day Mee vanished, Mitchell had messaged her suggesting a visit.
But the victim was so fed up of her friend badgering her for money that she texted: "Not talk about house or money, stresses them both out".
Jurors heard Mitchell had made a false report via email to a missing persons charity and sent a WhatsApp message to Mee’s lodger saying the devout churchgoer had gone to spend time with her family.
After killing Mee, Mitchell forged a will on her computer giving herself 95% of her friend's estate, valued at about £700,000.
"A large sum was needed to complete the repairs on the defendant's house," prosecutor Deanna Heer earlier told the jury.
"In Mee Kuen Chong, the prosecution say the defendant found someone from whom she thought she could get that money - by persuading Me Kuen Chong to give it to her, or if not when she was alive, then by forging her will after she had killed her."
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Mitchell denied murder and manslaughter but was convicted by the jury after eight hours of deliberation. She will be sentenced on Friday.
After the verdict, Judge Richard Marks praised the police team for their "excellent and extremely thorough investigative work".
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