A butcher who murdered her girlfriend, cut her in half and buried her body under concrete in their garden has been jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years.
Anna Podedworna, from Poland, killed Izabela Zablocka with a horse figurine before wrapping her remains in bin bags in a “filthy, makeshift grave” in Normanton, Derby.
Ms Zablocka, 30, was reported missing after losing contact with family in 2010, Derby Crown Court heard. Podedworna denied knowing where she was.
But prosecutors said she finally “cracked” last year and emailed police when a Polish journalist flew to the UK to interview her.
The mother-of-one’s remains were found in June under concrete in the garden of the house the couple shared after they moved from Poland together.
Jurors were told “considerable force” would have been needed to cut Ms Zablocka’s body in half and that electrical tape had been used to bind her legs together “like a chicken”.
At the time, Podedworna worked as a butcher at a factory in Scropton, Derbyshire, where she skinned, deboned and cut up turkey.
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She told her trial she had killed her partner in self-defence.
“I was just terrified, I felt fear. I thought I will bury her. I took the decision I would bury her in the garden,” said 40-year-old Podedworna.
“I wanted to pick her up whole. I just did not have the strength to pick her up. I had an idea to cut her down. It seemed the only way… to cut her into two.”
The jury rejected her story and yesterday found her guilty of murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice after a three-week trial.
The victim’s daughter, Katarzyna Zablocka, who was just a child when her mother moved to the UK, said she had spent her entire adult life “looking for answers” about her fate.
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