[UPDATED] UK dissection expert guilty of murdering, decapitating M’sian-born woman

KUALA LUMPUR – Jemma Mitchell, who was on trial for the murder of Malaysian-born Deborah Chong Mee Kuen, has been found guilty by London’s Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). 

According to a report by The Daily Mail, the jury deliberated for seven hours before coming to a unanimous guilty verdict, following which judge Richard Marks had said that he will be passing a sentence tomorrow. 

The prosecution team had previously said that Mitchell, 38, who is trained in human dissection, had killed and decapitated Chong, 67, allegedly over a disagreement related to money matters in 2021. 

On June 27, 2021, Chong’s headless body was found in the woodlands in Salcombe, Devon, 350km from her home after she was reported missing on June 11 from her home in Wembley, London. 

The prosecution had claimed that Mitchell planned to murder Chong, whom she met at church, and fake her will to inherit the bulk of her estate worth more than RM3.8 million (£700,000) after the pensioner apparently retracted a RM1.09 million (£200,000) payment to the former osteopath. 

On June 27, 2021, Chong’s headless body was found in the woodlands in Salcombe, Devon, 350km from her home, after she was reported missing on June 11 from her residence in Wembley, London. 

Following the discovery of Chong’s headless body, her head was discovered four days later about 10m away in an undergrowth.

Prosecutors also showed jurors video footage of Mitchell dragging a suitcase containing Chong’s corpse to her car before driving over 320km to a woodlands area to dump the body. 

Additionally, prosecutor Deana Heer said that a post-mortem examination had been unable to determine Chong’s cause of death due to the degree of decomposition. 

However, her body appeared to have been cut and there were signs of assault, including a skull fracture suggesting “significant impact by a blunt object very shortly before death”.

The court learnt that Mitchell returned to Britain in 2015 after practising osteopathy for seven years in Australia but had remained unemployed since.

Chong, the court was told, was a vulnerable individual who was prone to erratic behaviour, and had been referred to a community mental health team after sending letters to Prince Charles (now king of Britain) and then prime minister Boris Johnson.

At the time of Chong’s death, jurors were told that Mitchell was living with her mother at a family home in Brent, which was in a state of disrepair. 

Mitchell had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Chong on a date between June 10 and June 27 last year.

Chong had been living in Wembley for over 30 years, according to reports. 

The pensioner has been described by neighbours and friends as a staunch Christian, friendly and helpful, and yet trusting and naive.

Formerly a native of Kuala Lumpur, Chong, who was single, studied at Ampang Road Girls’ School and Convent Bukit Nanas. – The Vibes, October 27, 2022