Body parts murder case pair jailed

THE body parts murder case came to a dramatic conclusion today (Monday) when Stephen Marshall, 38, was ordered to be caged for a minimum of 36 years. He had at first denied murdering kitchen salesman Jeffrey Howe, of Southgate, London but on Friday change

THE body parts murder case came to a dramatic conclusion today (Monday) when Stephen Marshall, 38, was ordered to be caged for a minimum of 36 years.

He had at first denied murdering kitchen salesman Jeffrey Howe, of Southgate, London but on Friday changed his plea to guilty.

Marshall, of Borehamwood had already admitted dismembering 49-year-old Mr Howe's body and scattering parts of it across two counties. The first to be found was a left leg by the side of the Baldock to Cottered road on March 22 last year.

Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Denis Burke has described the case as "extremely gruesome".

Marshall's former partner, Sarah Bush, 21, of no fixed address today pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice for her role in the disposal of some of Mr Howe's body parts and the subsequent cover up. The charge of murder against her was withdrawn. She was sentenced to three years and nine months less time already spent in custody.

Mr Burke said: "Both defendants saw Mr Howe's vulnerability and subsequent murder as an opportunity to seize his home, his possessions and his identity.

"All this was carried out with unfaltering nerve and, by Marshall in particular, with a disturbing level of expertise. He showed a frightening disregard for human life in his willingness to kill in return for a relatively small sum of money.