The jury returned its verdict on Monday afternoon
A person has been discovered responsible of murdering two males and dumping their stays in suitcases close to Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, killed civil companions Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, on July 8 final 12 months of their flat in Scotts Street, Shepherd’s Bush, west London.
Mosquera, who was additionally staying with the couple, “decapitated and dismembered” them, froze elements of their stays and introduced the remaining in suitcases to Clifton Suspension Bridge, in accordance with the prosecution.
He’s alleged to have repeatedly stabbed Mr Alfonso, who suffered accidents to his torso, face and neck, whereas Mr Longworth was attacked with a hammer to the again of his head and his cranium shattered, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court docket heard.
Mr Alfonso loved “excessive intercourse” and Mosquera, a Colombian nationwide whom he met on-line years earlier, was a part of that world, jurors heard. Mr Alfonso was stabbed to demise throughout a filmed session, with footage proven in court docket recording Mosquera singing and dancing within the aftermath of the assault.
Mosquera’s plan was to hurl the suitcases over the bridge to get rid of the stays after the “calculated” and “premeditated” killings, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC stated. Mosquera admitted killing Mr Alfonso however claimed it was manslaughter by purpose of lack of management.
He pleaded not responsible to murdering each males and insisted Mr Alfonso killed Mr Longworth. It took a jury 5 hours and three minutes to unanimously discover Mosquera responsible.
He had advised the jury he feared for his personal life and believed he was about to be killed when he stabbed Mr Alfonso. The defendant claimed that he thought Mr Alfonso would do to him what he claims he had already carried out to Mr Longworth, he felt “intimidated” and threats had been made to his household in Colombia.
Mosquera’s actions after stabbing Mr Alfonso, together with singing and dancing, may have been an outburst as he had been overwhelmed by all that had occurred to him, his defence counsel recommended. The decide, Mr Justice Bennathan KC, stated he would sentence Mosquera on October 24.
He stated: “I’m not going to go sentence on you right this moment, though the one one I can go on you is one among life imprisonment. I’m going to order a psychiatric report on you. It’s in your pursuits to cooperate with the psychiatrist in order that I can resolve the minimal time period you’ll serve.”
Senior officer remembers ‘harrowing’ investigation
The double killing, dismemberment and dumping of the stays of a pair was described as “one of the crucial harrowing homicide investigations” a senior police officer has ever handled.
Detective Chief Inspector Ollie Stride of the Metropolitan Police stated the drive found a “traumatic” video displaying the dying moments of 62-year-old Albert Alfonso after he was stabbed by Yostin Andres Mosquera shortly after that they had intercourse within the sufferer’s residence.
Intercourse employee Mosquera, 35, has proven no regret for the brutal and calculated murders of Mr Alfonso and his civil accomplice Paul Longworth, 71, of their west London residence on 8 July final 12 months, Mr Stride stated.
The senior investigating officer within the case advised the PA information company: “I feel actually that is in all probability one of the crucial traumatic, harrowing homicide investigations I’ve handled by advantage of that video, and the truth that it passed off throughout their sexual exercise in their very own residence.”
The “really horrendous” footage exhibits a unadorned Mosquera and Mr Alfonso grappling earlier than the elder man is stabbed and dies. It captures the sound of him showing to wrestle to breathe and was watched in silence by the jury on the Woolwich Crown Court docket who repeatedly needed to view the distressing however key proof.
At one level Mosquera says: “Do you prefer it?” as he stabs Mr Alfonso, after which is seen singing and dancing within the aftermath. Seconds later he sits down at a pc to attempt to plunder each his victims’ financial institution accounts. The couple had met Mosquera on-line and Mr Alfonso had begun a sexual relationship with him after inviting him into their residence.
Mr Stride stated: “We knew that the Yostin and Albert had been participating in sexual exercise, however to see the video filmed in the way in which it was filmed, and through such an intimate second of them participating in sexual exercise, after which to commit the homicide, (and see it) shut up on video, was a very, actually horrific factor to observe.”
Mr Justice Bennathan needed to warn the jury “it isn’t a straightforward watch” and efforts had been made to not use the soundtrack to the footage because it probably “heightens” any misery in seeing it.
The prosecution case was that Mosquera wished to steal their cash and was not in concern for his life or his household, as he claimed in court docket.
Mr Stride stated detectives couldn’t be “complacent” and depend on the video alone to show he was a calculated double-murderer who was in full management of his actions.
He stated: “Having a video of the homicide is, in some ways, an investigator’s dream in that it’s clear what has occurred. There is no such thing as a dispute.
“It was actually essential for me and the entire investigation crew that we weren’t complacent as a result of we had the video (to really feel) that was the case carried out, there after which. We continued the meticulous investigation by way of all of the proof that we might have carried out if we hadn’t had that video.”
He added: “We restricted who watched it as a result of it’s so traumatic and so horrific that we didn’t need everyone to have to observe that. However there have been sure officers on the crew who’ve watched it numerous instances and, clearly, the jury needed to be put by way of watching it numerous instances all through the trial.”
On July 8 final 12 months Mr Alfonso suffered accidents to his torso, face and neck, whereas Mr Longworth was attacked with a hammer to the again of his head and had his “cranium shattered”, the jury heard.
Two days later, at about 11.30pm, Mosquera advised a bike owner who noticed him on Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol with a big purple suitcase and close to a silver trunk that they contained automotive elements.
Bridge employees observed one thing seemed to be leaking from the purple suitcase and Mosquera subsequently fled. Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth’s severed heads had been discovered by police in a chest freezer of their flat.
Mosquera denied murdering each males however admitted the manslaughter of Mr Alfonso attributable to a lack of management. He blamed Mr Alfonso for Mr Longworth’s killing.
Mr Stride stated: “We discovered no purpose why the our bodies had been taken to Bristol in any respect. Mr Mosquera initially booked the van to take him right down to Brighton, the place we all know he had been on on a day journey with Albert and Paul throughout this go to. In his proof, he stated it was one other place that started with B however we discovered nothing to recommend why he went on the market in any respect.”
There was additionally no clear purpose why the bridge was picked to try to get rid of the stays.
Mr Stride stated: “Clifton Suspension Bridge has excessive fences throughout the entire bridge. It has safety on the bridge. It has CCTV and inside a few minutes of him being on the bridge with the suitcases, he was stopped by safety, spoken to, and he ran off when the suitcases had been discovered.”
Detectives believed the killings had been “financially motivated”.
Mr Stride stated: “For numerous weeks earlier than the homicide, he has been looking out the worth of the property that Albert and Paul lived in. He’s been acquiring particulars of their financial institution accounts, and instantly after the homicide, he was attempting to log into their checking account after which subsequently withdrew money from money machines, having didn’t switch cash electronically numerous instances.”
Giving proof in the course of the trial, Mosquera stated he had first met Mr Alfonso by way of webcam intercourse web sites in 2012, and was finally paid for degrading intercourse acts he didn’t need to carry out. He claimed they continued contact on-line and later met in particular person in Colombia in 2022 and 2024.
There is no such thing as a proof to recommend that Mr Longworth was concerned within the association. Mosquera, who had been to the UK as soon as beforehand to go to the couple, had been dwelling with them for a couple of month previous to the murders.
