A cleaner is accused of murdering his co-worker and lover at the central London office block where they worked before dumping her body 40 miles away in Hampshire, the Old Bailey has heard.
Juan Toledo, 51, is accused of killing Yajaira Castro Mendez at their place of work in Gray’s Inn Road, which runs from Holborn to King’s Cross, on May 29.
Ms Mendez, 46, was reported missing by her flatmate the following day, and her body was discovered in the Bolderwood area of Lyndhurst, Hampshire, on June 7.
Toledo, who is married, has been charged with murder and appeared in front of Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
“The defendant is a 51-year-old Venezuelan national charged with the murder of Yajaira Castro Mendez on May 29”, said prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC.
“Ms Mendez is a Colombian national.”
She told the judge: “The defendant was Ms Mendez’s work colleague, they were both cleaning staff at an office block in Gray’s Inn Road.
“They had in the recent past been in a relationship.”
The court heard Ms Mendez checked in to her work at 5pm on May 29, and it is alleged she had been murdered less than four hours later.
Toledo is accused of using a wheelie bin to load her body into the boot of his car before driving to Hampshire, the court heard.
“She was reported missing by her flatmate after she failed to move into new accommodation on May 30”, Ms Carberry added.
Toledo, of St Kitts Terrace, Crystal Palace, was charged last week with murder.
He was remanded in custody by the judge on Tuesday, to appear again for a plea hearing on September 1.
The judge also set a provisional trial date of April 20 next year.
Toledo, who followed court proceedings through an interpreter, has not yet entered a plea to the charge of murder.
