Lorraine Cox murder trial: T-shirt found stuffed in mouth

Lorraine Cox, 32, was last seen on 1 September in Exeter city centre

A woman whose body was dismembered may have been suffocated by her T-shirt, a jury has heard.

Lorraine Cox's naked torso was found in woodland near Exeter almost two weeks after she vanished walking home late at night on 1 September last year.

Her T-shirt was found stuffed in her mouth and may have been the cause of her death, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Azam Mangori, 24, also known as Christopher Mayer, denies murdering Ms Cox, 32.

He is alleged to have killed her at his home above a kebab shop in Fore Street before cutting up her body into seven pieces and dumping body parts in sealed bin bags in an alleyway.

The prosecution told the jury Mr Mangori used a taxi to carry the head and torso of Ms Cox in a sports holdall to woodland at Tinpit Hill, near Newton St Cyres, where they were found by police under a pile of logs.

Azam Mangori, also known as Christopher Mayer, denies murdering Lorraine Cox

A pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death because the body was so decomposed but the prosecution say the shirt found in her mouth suggests she may have been suffocated.

The jury has been told shop worker Mr Mangori admits preventing a lawful burial.

He claims she died of natural causes while in his flat and he then disposed of her body.

Mr Simon Laws, QC, prosecuting, told the jury Mr Mangori killed Lorraine within hours of taking her back to his flat above the Bodrum kebab house.

Security cameras showed him meeting her for the first time in the city centre as she walked back to her father's home in Beacon Heath from a Bank Holiday Monday drinking session with friends.

He said it was likely her body was cut up during the next week by Mr Mangori, who had been studying videos about amputation on the internet in the days before the killing.

The court heard a bloodstained saw and two knives were found wrapped in layers of plastic in his kitchen.

The police investigation on the corner of Mary Arches Street and Fore Street in Exeter.

"What possible reason could there be for him to have pushed the shirt into her mouth in that way, if not to kill her?" Mr Laws asked the court.

Some parts of Ms Cox's body are still missing.

A section of skin on her back had also been cut out, suggesting mutilation, the court heard.

"The truth is that this evidence shows this case may be darker even than the established facts show," said Mr Laws.

The jury have started hearing evidence from witnesses, including a statement from Ms Cox's partner Elise Fallow, who said they had been planning to get married.

She said Lorraine had been living with her in Scotland during lockdown but had missed her family and friends and returned to Exeter to spend time with them in August.

The case continues.