Photograph: Devon and Cornwall Police/PA
A man has been found guilty of murdering a woman who went missing after a night out in Exeter and hiding her dismembered remains in bins and woodland.
Azam Mangori, 24, murdered Lorraine Cox, 32, in his room above a kebab shop in Exeter after coming across her in the street after she had been out with friends.
Before the attack he had done research on amputation and in the days after the killing looked up how to dig a grave, Exeter crown court was told.
After the killing Mangori used her sim card in his mobile phone to try to pretend she was alive and well to family and friends.
Speaking after the verdict, Cox’s family said in a statement she was a “kind-hearted, loving generous girl – the heartbeat of our family”, adding: “We hope and pray that no other woman or family has to go through what our beautiful girl suffered, or that any other family suffers the brutal, distressing experience we have all been through.”
Devon and Cornwall police assistant chief constable, Jim Colwell, said: “The murder of Lorraine Cox was callous and brutal in its nature and details of the crime revealed at court will have disturbed many of our communities.
“The way in which Azam Mangori exploited Lorraine’s vulnerability before murdering her and dismembering her body is a deeply disturbing crime. Violence against anyone, especially a vulnerable woman like Lorraine, is abhorrent.
“Devon and Cornwall police, along with many parts of our society, is currently reflecting on the highlighting of threats many women and girls feel on a daily basis.
“We need to understand and listen to those in our communities who say they do not feel safe and come together to change any culture of fear which may exist.”
Simon Laws QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Cox went missing after a night out with friends on the August bank holiday last year.
Laws said: “At about 1.30am she had set off to walk home alone and she had had a lot to drink.” He said Cox had the “great misfortune” to be spotted by Mangori.
“He went up to her, they had never met one another before. He took advantage of her drunken state and had a sexual encounter with her in an alleyway. It was obvious she was in no fit state to look after herself.
“He then led her back to his room above a kebab shop in the city centre and he killed her there. He cut her body up into seven pieces and disposed of them. He mutilated the body in other ways.”
Mangori insisted Cox had died from drink and drugs and said he did not call for help because a claim he made for asylum in the UK had been rejected and he was facing deportation.
He admitted dismembering Cox’s body and said that in his mind he had pretended he was cutting up tobacco.
A pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death due to the length of time before the remains were found.
Mangori, of no fixed address, will be sentenced next week.
