By James Simons And Lucy Caulkett-
A woman’s headless body was found near the coast with a quote from the Bible written on a scrap of paper in her jacket pocket, a court has heard.
Mee Kuen Chong, 67, from Wembley, north west London, was discovered in woodland in Salcombe, Devon, in June 2021.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, from Willesden, north west London, allegedly killed and decapitated her friend Ms Chong, before forging a will in her own favour. The court heard in an earlier hearing that Ms Mitchell had allegedly committed the murder after failing ti extort £200k from her
Jemma Mitchell, 38, of Brondesbury Park, who had worked as an osteopath in Australia, had allegedly failed in an attempt to extract £200,000 from Ms Chong to pay for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, jurors at the Old Bailey heard this week.
Jurors heard that after Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, Mitchell angrily killed her and disposed of her remains during a 500-mile round trip to Devon last June.
Ms Chong’s genuine will – leaving her house to her church with the remainder to family and charity – was found at her Wembley home
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The prosecutor said Mitchell killed Ms Chong last June 11 at the victim’s home – after taking a large blue suitcase with her.
Ms Chong suffered a skull break “suggestive of an impact with a hard implement or weapon”, Ms Heer said.
Ms Heer added: “Having killed or at least fatally injured the deceased, she needed to get rid of her body and so she removed it in the blue suitcase.
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“That is why, when she left… it was so much heavier than when she arrived and why, on June 26 2021 the defendant travelled over 500 miles to Salcombe, taking it with her.
At 1.13pm on June 11, Mitchell was caught on camera walking from Ms Chong’s home with a suitcase that appeared to be “a lot heavier” than when she arrived, Ms Heer said. She was also pulling another suitcase, belonging to Ms Chong, which allegedly held paperwork relating to her financial affairs.
After learning from Ms Chong’s lodger that she was missing, Mitchell allegedly told him “she was going to stay with family friends for a year to clear her head… somewhere close to the ocean”, the court was told.
Police investigating Ms Chong’s disappearance tried to contact Mitchell last June 26, jurors were told.
Three days later, she emailed back – claiming the victim was “planning to stay with friends near her sister’s family on the coast”.
Mitchell was arrested last July 6 and told officers: “I know that she has gone away.”
In a bedroom was the falsified will, dated October 2020, which claimed to leave 95% of Ms Chong’s estate to the defendant for her house project and 5% to the Mitchell’s mother, the court heard.
One of the forged signatories was Mitchell’s neighbour who died last March, jurors were told.
Ms Chong’s signature was also “extremely unlikely to be genuine” and appeared to have been copied from her UK passport, Ms Heer suggested.
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Ms Chong’s head was found days later, a pathologist told the Old Bailey.
The jury was previously shown CCTV footage of Ms Mitchell dragging a suitcase from Ms Chong’s home, which the prosecution claims contained the body.
It is alleged Ms Mitchell hired a car and went on a 500-mile (800km) round trip to Devon to dispose of Ms Chong’s remains.
The court heard how Ms Chong, also known as Deborah, had a history of mental ill health dating back to 2015, when she was noted in GP records as having schizo-affective disorder and acute stress.
According to the records, she suffered an episode of mania with psychotic symptoms in 2017 but by the next year her condition had stabilised and she was discharged by her community mental health team, the jury was told.
Paranoid Schizophrenia
In May 2021, records indicate she had paranoid schizophrenia.
The court heard the remains of Ms Chong, described as a “devout Christian”, were found with her handbag containing a length of rope, which the prosecution alleges matches some found at Ms Mitchell’s home.
The body was also found with the business card of an evangelical church and scraps of paper bearing excerpts from the Bible, jurors were told.
The court previously heard the prosecution allege that Ms Mitchell had killed Ms Chong because she wanted to get hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for repairs to her home.
Ms Mitchell, a former osteopath, has denied murder
The trial continues