A woman killed a vulnerable churchgoer and dumped her headless corpse over 200 miles away before forging her will in a bid to inherit her estate, a court has been told.
Jemma Mitchell, 38, who had worked as an osteopath in Australia, had allegedly failed in an attempt to extract £200,000 from 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong to pay for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, north-west London.
After Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, Mitchell killed her and disposed of her remains during a 500-mile round trip to Salcombe in Devon last June, it is claimed.
She then set about forging a will on her computer so she could inherit the bulk of Ms Chong’s wealth, the prosecution claims.
The fake will was uncovered in a search of the defendant’s home, Deanna Heer KC told jurors at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.
Ms Chong’s genuine will – leaving her house to her church with the remainder to family and charity – was found at the victim’s home in Wembley, north-west London, the Old Bailey was told.
Ms Heer told jurors: “In this case, the motive is clear: money.
“A large sum was needed to complete the repairs on the defendant’s house and, in Mee Kuen Chong, the defendant found someone from whom she thought she could get it, if not when she was alive, then by forging her will after she had killed her.”
The prosecutor said Mitchell killed Ms Chong last 11 June 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”, she said.
Ms Heer went on: “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.
“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. And it is why she drove to… the area in which the deceased’s mutilated body was to be found the following day.”
Jurors saw pictures of Ms Chong’s clothed body and head after they were found about 10 metres apart in woods.
The court was also shown CCTV footage allegedly charting the defendant’s activities in the wake of the murder.
At 1.13pm on 11 June, 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.
Later that day, Mitchell was treated at St Thomas’s Hospital for a broken finger, claiming she shut it in a car door – which the prosecution said was a lie.
On 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.
The defendant allegedly hired a car last 26 June, giving the phone number registered to a neighbour who died earlier that year.
