The couple are on trial for the murder of Simon Shorten.
A couple in Bournemouth, England, have gone on trial for murdering, dismembering and partially eating a drug addict.
According to reports, the body of victim Simon Shotton, 48, was discovered by passers-by in August last year.subway. Prosecutors said Debbie Pereira and Benjamin Atkins killed Shorten and then dismembered him with a hardware store saw. They also claim Atkins bragged about eating the victim’s body parts.
The couple were arrested after a leg was found on the beach. Police traced the leg through Shorten’s phone records and eventually found Pereira. A search of their home turned up more body parts and a secret recording device in a police car captured Atkins talking about how to dispose of weapons.
In a police interview, Pereira denied having anything to do with the murder and claimed Atkins said he would take responsibility for the entire crime if he admitted to cannibalism. The trial is ongoing.
Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting the trial at Winchester Crown Court, said: “A search officer followed what he described as a ‘smell of death’ to a hedge where he discovered a large Black suitcase.”
The suitcase had “flies” on it and had an “immediate and strong stench of death,” according to prosecutors. Inside, they found “a headless human torso.”
