LONDON: A UK judge on Friday jailed for 42 years a man who decapitated and dismembered two people before dumping their bodies in suitcases on a landmark UK bridge.
Colombian national Yostin Mosquera murdered Albert Alfonso, 62, who was originally from France, and Paul Longworth, 71, last year at a flat the couple shared in west London where he had been staying with them.
A court earlier this year found the 35-year-old guilty of murdering both men.
Sentencing him to life with a minimum term of 42 years, Judge Joel Bennathan said the murders had been “premeditated and thoroughly wicked.”
“It was their tragedy that you, Yostin Mosquera, came into their lives,” he said, adding he was “sure” Mosquera had intended to try to sell their flat after killing them.
Mosquera filmed himself having sex with Alfonso and stabbing him to death after killing Longworth, who was struck with a hammer on the back of the head, prosecutors told the court earlier.
Police found the couple’s severed heads in a freezer at the flat, while Mosquera took their bodies to the southwestern city of Bristol in two suitcases where he left them on the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
An analysis of Mosquera’s computer showed he had looked up the value of the couple’s west London home, copied documents containing Alfonso’s online banking details, and searched the web for “serial killers of London” and “Jack the Ripper film.”
Alfonso, a swimming instructor, and Longworth, a retired maintenance worker, became civil partners in 2023.
Judge Bennathan described Alfonso as “a hardworking man who had shown (Mosquera) kindness and generosity.”
Longworth was a “harmless, amiable person who had done (the defendant) no wrong,” he added during a sentencing hearing at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.
After the killing, Mosquera traveled to Bristol where a cyclist spotted him on the bridge with a large red suitcase and a silver trunk.
Questioned by bridge staff about something leaking from the red suitcase, Mosquera told them it was oil.
When they shone their torches on the suitcases, he fled.
Bennathan said he was sure the defendant’s aim had been to “throw the cases full of body parts off the bridge in an attempt to dispose of them.”
Mosquera received two life terms which will be served concurrently along with a 16-month sentence for possessing child pornography.
Killer who dumped bodies in suitcases jailed for 42 years
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Killer who dumped bodies in suitcases jailed for 42 years
- Sentencing him to life with a minimum term of 42 years, Judge Joel Bennathan said the murders had been “premeditated and thoroughly wicked“
- Mosquera took their bodies to the southwestern city of Bristol in two suitcases
UK pro-Palestine campaign urges pressure on councillors ahead of elections
- They are being urged to commit to ‘upholding the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people’
- Research has revealed extensive ties between local council-administered pension funds, Israeli military
LONDON: The Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Wednesday launched a campaign urging local councillors across the UK to commit to “upholding the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”
The Councillor Pledge for Palestine is the latest effort by the PSC to build pressure on the UK’s political system and encourage systemic change for the benefit of the Palestinian cause. It comes five months ahead of local elections.
Research conducted by the PSC has revealed extensive financial ties between local councils and the Israeli military.
Pension funds administered by councils invest more than £12.2 billion ($16.2 billion) in companies with direct complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza, which has been deemed by the International Court of Justice to plausibly constitute genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The PSC accused these companies of complicity in Israel’s “genocide, ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.”
Among the investments includes £450 million in BAE Systems, the British multinational that manufacturers components for the F-35 jet used by the Israeli Air Force. The Israeli F-35 variant has been used extensively throughout the Gaza war.
Councillors in the UK must “take all appropriate steps to ensure my council is not complicit in Israel’s violations of international law, including through the council divesting pensions and any other funds it administers from complicit companies,” the PSC’s pledge said.
The campaign is encouraging supporters to contact their local councillors and urge them to make the commitment.
Over the coming months, a list of councillors who have done so will be published, with the aim of building a network that supports Palestinian rights across the country.
Ben Jamal, the PSC’s director, said: “It is not just Westminster politicians who have enabled Britain’s complicity in Israel’s horrific crimes. That guilt extends to council chambers as well, with more than £12 billion of local government pension scheme funds invested in companies profiting from Israel's military occupation and system of apartheid against the Palestinian people.
“Our Councillor Pledge for Palestine gives elected representatives an opportunity to show their constituents they are on the right side of history and that they vow to end this complicity.”
More than three times as many voters support councils divesting pension funds from companies complicit in Israeli crimes than oppose it, according to polling conducted earlier this year on behalf of the PSC.
Of that figure, the ratio is six-to-one among Labour voters, seven-to-one among Liberal Democrats and 11-to-one among Greens.
An existing PSC campaign, Local Government Pension Scheme Divest, has led to 27 councils across the UK passing motions or releasing statements supporting the divestment of pension funds.
The campaign is inspired by an anti-apartheid effort launched in 1983, which at its height led to two-thirds of the British population living in areas administered by councils with anti-apartheid policies.
Nelson Mandela acknowledged the campaign’s influence when he visited the UK after his release from prison.
Jamal said: “After more than two years of Israel’s genocide — which continues to this day, despite the so-called ‘ceasefire’ — people up and down the country are demanding politicians stand up and be counted. Councillors across Britain should answer this call and pledge for Palestine today.”
