A woman accused of murdering her girlfriend, dismembering the body with a knife, and burying it in a garden over fifteen years ago was a skilled butcher who worked in a poultry factory, a murder trial at Derby Crown Court has heard.
Gruesome Details Emerge in Court
Jurors were told that Anna Podedworna, 40, killed Izabela Zablocka, who was reportedly "trussed up like a chicken you would see in the supermarket" before being placed into bin bags and interred in the garden of a terraced house in Derby. The remains of Ms Zablocka, who went missing in August 2010, were only discovered in June last year after Podedworna emailed Derbyshire Police to reveal the burial site at a property on Princes Street in Normanton, Derby, where the pair had lived together.
Background of the Accused and Victim
Both Podedworna and Ms Zablocka had moved to the UK from Poland and were employed at Cranberry Foods, a poultry factory in Scropton, Derbyshire. Podedworna worked as a skilled butcher, with duties involving skinning, deboning, and portioning turkey carcasses using a large knife, while Ms Zablocka was an unskilled agency worker at the same plant. Employment records indicate that Podedworna took two weeks off work shortly after Ms Zablocka made her final contact with her mother in 2010.
Forensic Evidence and Prosecution Claims
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC detailed that "considerable force" would have been necessary to cut Ms Zablocka's body in half, and electrical tape had been used to bind her legs together prior to burial. He described the cover-up as involving "deliberate, calculated, gruesome and time-consuming acts" over several days. The cause of death remains unknown due to the effective concealment of the body, with the grave reportedly dug using tools like a spade or trenching shovel and covered with a section of concrete hardstanding.
DNA analysis suggested that Ms Zablocka might have owned a jacket found inside a Lidl carrier bag also buried in the grave. The court heard that tensions in the relationship were exacerbated by other men finding Podedworna sexually attractive, leading to "suspicion, jealousy, and conflict." Additionally, Ms Zablocka's daughter, who was in Poland at the time of the disappearance, informed police that her mother had wanted gender reassignment surgery but could not afford it.
Ongoing Trial and Charges
Anna Podedworna, of Boyer Street in Derby, who had a "stormy and turbulent" relationship with Ms Zablocka according to court testimony, denies charges of murder, preventing a lawful burial, and perverting the course of justice. The trial continues as further evidence is presented to the jury.
