PC Gordon Semple: Murder accused 'may have cooked and eaten officer'

A man may have cooked and eaten parts of a police officer after strangling him in his flat, a court has heard.

Stefano Brizzi is accused of murdering PC Gordon Semple, 59, whom he met on the dating app Grindr, before trying to dispose of the body in an acid bath.

The Old Bailey heard Mr Semple's DNA was found on the blade of a blender, cooking pot and other items in the defendant's kitchen.

Mr Brizzi, 50, from Southwark, south London, denies murder.

Stefano Brizzi said he had HIV and had been told by Satan to "kill, kill, kill"

Investigators also found there were bite marks on a piece of bone recovered from the kitchen bin at Mr Brizzi's home and evidence that one of Mr Semple's legs had been burnt, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said: "So, the defendant cannot have confined himself to dismembering Gordon Semple and disposing of his body either by acid in the bath or else in the dustbins.

Gordon Semple had served with the Met Police for 30 years

"Instead, the prosecution suggest it would be open to the jury to find that the defendant cooked part of his body and ate it."

PC Semple, originally from Inverness, had been on duty when he arranged to meet Mr Brizzi at his flat for sex, on 1 April.

Residents at the Peabody Estate complained of a smell coming from the flat

When officers arrived at the flat on 7 April, after neighbours complained of a "revolting smell", they found bottles of chemicals scattered in the hall and "blue-green liquid" in the bath with "flesh-coloured globules floating in the water", Mr Aylett said.

One of the officers looked inside a bin liner on the floor and saw a human hand and part of a spine, the court heard.

The defendant said he was HIV positive and had been told by Satan to "kill, kill, kill", jurors heard.

Talking to the officers at his flat, Mr Brizzi allegedly said: "I was talking online about Satan as a fetish - and crystal meth takes me to Satan."

Human foot discovered

He explained he did not like Mr Semple, who had been fat and ugly, the court heard.

Mr Brizzi later allegedly claimed he disposed of some body parts he had been unable to break up, by cycling with them to the River Thames.

A human foot was later discovered next to the Thames riverbank at Bermondsey Wall and body matter recovered from drainpipes in Mr Brizzi's block, the court heard.

The court heard that while in custody Mr Brizzi told officers: "I thought I was getting away with it. I had nearly finished but I took a shot (of crystal meth). I was going to finish the job today.

"As you can see, this man was a very big man and all I have left is two buckets."

Mr Brizzi denies murder, claiming Mr Semple died in a "sex game gone wrong".

But he has admitted a second charge of obstructing a coroner in the execution of their duty, between 31 March and 8 April 2016.