Killer jailed after concealing victim's body in suitcases

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-56977723

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Phoenix Netts lived in shared accommodation with Gareeca Gordon

A woman who murdered and concealed the dismembered remains of another woman in two suitcases has been jailed.

Gareeca Gordon, 28, admitted killing Phoenix Netts, 28, at the shared accommodation in Birmingham.

Bristol Crown Court heard Miss Netts was stabbed four times and could have survived her injuries, but Gordon did not call for an ambulance.

Gordon was ordered to serve a minimum term of 23 years and six months.

'Help me'

Instead of calling for an ambulance, she allowed Miss Netts to die in her room, while she carried out internet searches on how to treat a punctured lung.

She "deliberately did nothing" to help, High Court judge Mrs Justice Cutts said while handing down the sentence.

Another woman living in the shared accommodation reported hearing noises of drilling and banging, as well as shouts of "help me, help me", on 16 April.

A post-mortem examination found Ms Netts was stabbed four times to the front of her torso but would not have died had she received prompt medical attention.

Gareeca Gordon's actions were described as calm and calculated by the investigating officers

The court also heard that Miss Netts and Gordon were friends but Gordon had wanted their relationship to become sexual, which Miss Netts had rejected.

Her father Mark Netts told the court in a victim impact statement: "Our lives have been irreversibly changed and the anguish is indescribable."

Her mother, Saskia, said she would be "forever devastated, forever empty".

Prosecutor Andrew Smith QC, said: "Both statements speak of the profound, understandable and enduring loss experienced through the loss of a much loved daughter with whom they expected to share the next chapter of her life."

Impersonation tactics

After the murder, Gordon tried to impersonate Miss Netts by using her mobile phone to send messages to her friends and parents for weeks claiming she was safe and well.

These actions caused further anguish to her parents who were unknowingly in direct contact with their daughter's murderer, the court heard.

She also created new email addresses purporting to belong to the victim.

Gordon previously pleaded guilty to murder at a hearing at Bristol Crown Court on 21 April.

Gordon was holding suitcases containing her victim's body parts when police stopped her in the Forest of Dean on 12 May