A murdered kitchen salesman’s severed head was discovered with the scalp, ears, tongue and parts of the neck cut away, a court heard today. Jeffrey Howe’s killer dismembered his body with ‘skill and precision, a jury was told.
Mr Howe’s remains were discovered by members of the public between March 22 and April 11 last year, prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC told the court. His left leg, severed at the thigh, was found wrapped in blue plastic close to the roadside in Cottered, Hertfordshire, on March 22, he said.
A week later, his left forearm, severed above the wrist and below the elbow, was found by the side of the road in St Albans and two days after that, on March 31, the remains of his severed head were found in a field near Ashfordby in Leicestershire. The flesh of the scalp and face had been removed and the ears, tongue and parts of the neck had been cut away, the jury was told.
Mr Trimmer said: ‘The removal of the parts missing had been undertaken with skill and precision, according to pathologists and experts.
‘It was carried out by someone who had experience of such activity.’
Mr Howe’s severed right leg was found just off the A10 near Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, on April 7, wrapped up in rubber bags and sealed with tape. Finally his torso was found in a green suitcase in a drainage ditch at Colliers End, Hertfordshire, on April 11.
The left arm was missing from just above the elbow, as was the right hand, severed at the wrist, Mr Trimmer said. Both of Mr Howe’s hands are still missing, the court was told. Mr Howe was murdered on March 8 or 9 in his flat in Southgate, north London, the jury was told.
He became known as the ‘jigsaw man’ after the series of macabre finds.
Stephen Marshall, 38, and Sarah Bush, 21, are on trial at st Albans Crown Court for 49-year-old Mr Howe’s murder.
Marshall, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, yesterday admitted dismembering Mr Howe and disposing of his body parts across Hertfordshire and Leicestershire. Both defendants deny murder.
Marshall yesterday pleaded guilty to two counts of perverting the course of justice by giving false information about the well-being and whereabouts of Mr Howe when police were conducting a missing person investigation and by dismembering his body and disposing of the parts in different places to impede the investigation.
Marshall and Bush, who were boyfriend and girlfriend, had moved into Mr Howe’s flat and planned to take it over after murdering him, the court was told.
Both defendants blame each other for the murder, Mr Trimmer said. The trial continues.
Daily Mail
Vocabulary:
severed – levágott
scalp – skalp
to dismember – feldarabol
thigh – comb
torso – torzó, emberi fels?test
drainage ditch – vízelvezet? árok
jigsaw – kirakós (játék)
perverting – zavarodott, pervertált
whereabout – hollét, valaki tartózkodási helye
to impede – megakadályoz
defendant – vádlott, alperes
jigsaw puzzle – kirakós játék
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces. Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture. In some cases more advanced types have appeared on the market, such as spherical jigsaws and puzzles showing Optical Illusions.
