Lorraine Cox: Man followed and murdered woman on night out

Lorraine Cox, 32, was described as the "heartbeat" of her family

A man followed and murdered a woman on a night out and later disposed of her body in an alleyway and woodland.

Lorraine Cox, 32, was killed in Exeter on 1 September.

Azam Mangori, 24, of Dartmouth Road, Stoke-on-Trent was found guilty of murder, having previously admitted preventing a lawful burial.

He left Ms Cox's body for a week in his flat before he "panicked" and dismembered her, jurors at Exeter Crown Court heard.

Speaking for the first time since her death, Ms Cox's family described her as "the most kind-hearted, loving, generous girl", adding she was "the heartbeat of our family".

"We hope and pray that no other woman or family has to go through what our beautiful girl suffered, or that any other family suffers the brutal, distressing experience we have all been through," their statement said.

They added the trial had been "mentally and emotionally exhausting", but thanked people for their help searching for Ms Cox last year.

Azam Mangori murdered Lorraine Cox at his flat

Commenting after the verdicts, police said Mangori had committed a "deeply disturbing" and "horrendous" crime.

He followed Ms Cox through the streets and persuaded her to go to his flat above a kebab shop.

Parts of her body were later found in an alley next to the flat and in woodland at Newton St Cyres, about six miles (9km) away.

Mangori, an Iraqi Kurd who was denied asylum in December 2018, told the court he had panicked because he feared being deported.

He said Ms Cox drank spirits and smoked a mystery drug in his room before losing consciousness and dying.

The 24-year-old said he had dismembered her body because he did not know how to get rid of it after it started to decompose.

But prosecutor Simon Laws QC called Mangori a "fluent and determined liar" and said he had smothered her with a T-shirt.

The court heard after Ms Cox was killed, Mangori used a SIM card from her phone to send messages to her family, partner and friends in an attempt to show she was still alive.

He also looked at amputation videos in the days before her disappearance, jurors were told.

Mangori was caught on camera in shops buying supplies to help him dispose of her body, including bin bags, tape, a suitcase and an air purifier to hide the smell.

He also purchased items, including a trowel, after viewing a website entitled: "How to dig a grave by hand."

Mangori bought 30 black bin bags in Exeter

In court Mangori described the days following her death as "a living hell".

Judge Justice Garnham said Mangori, who has been remanded in custody, would be sentenced for both offences on 7 April.

After the trial Det Sgt Samantha Wenham, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said Mangori had "tried his hardest to manipulate those closest to her and provide misinformation and misdirection in order to get away with these horrendous crimes".

Assistant Chief Constable Jim Colwell called the murder "callous and brutal" and said the way Mangori "exploited Lorraine's vulnerability before murdering her and dismembering her body is a deeply disturbing crime".