An Australian woman was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for beheading her friend, in a trial in London whose verdict was broadcast live on television, which is extremely rare.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, was convicted of the June 2021 murder in London of 67-year-old Deborah Chong. Two weeks after the murder, she had driven more than 200 miles by car to the southwest of England, where she left the decapitated and decomposed body of her victim in the woods.
She was given a life sentence with 34 years on Friday and the verdict was shown live on television, a first in England for a murder case involving a woman.
According to the prosecution, Ms Mitchell had planned the assassination after becoming friends with Ms Chong by participating in her parish group.
She killed her victim after the latter refused to give her 200,000 pounds (about 230,000 euros) to finance repairs in her dilapidated house. She then wrote a false will to inherit Mrs. Chong’s property, estimated at 700,000 pounds (812,000 euros).
When Ms Chong was reported missing, Ms Mitchell initially claimed she had gone to visit family “somewhere by the sea”. But Mrs Mitchell had in fact already beheaded her victim and kept his remains in her garden, the prosecution had said.
Trained in osteopathy, Jemma Mitchell boasted online that she was good at human dissection, but denied being linked to Ms Chong’s murder.
According to Judge Richard Marks, she showed “no remorse and is in total denial” regarding the “deeply shocking” crime.
Jemma Mitchell remained unmoved in her dock when the judge found her guilty on Thursday, while the victim’s family attended the verdict by videoconference from Malaysia.
It is only the second time that cameras have been allowed to broadcast a verdict live in a criminal court, and the first time that the defendant has been a woman.
