An Italian-born man will go on trial accused of strangling and dismembering a Met police officer after meeting him on the gay dating website Grindr.
Stefano Brizzi, 49, is accused of killing Pc Gordon Semple at his flat on a day between 1 April and 7 April.
Brizzi, a social worker, appeared in court wearing dark sunglasses and a grey tracksuit, and was flanked by three dock officers.
The judge set a timetable for the case with a provisional trial date of 18 October.
A plea and case management hearing was fixed for 29 June.
The defendant was remanded in custody ahead of a further hearing on 20 April.
Pc Semple, 59, was originally from Inverness in Scotland and had been with the Metropolitan Police for 30 years.
He went missing on 1 April and his remains were discovered a week later after a neighbour alerted Scotland Yard to a "smell of death" coming from a property on the Peabody Estate in Southwark Street, south London.
PA
