A lawyer is accused of attempting to cover up a murder allegedly committed by her boyfriend and another man, with a Stanmore woman and four others accused of conspiracy to pervert the court of justice, a court has heard.
Justin Bello, 38, was killed in November 2019, with solicitor Suzanne John accused of plotting to cover up the murder allegedly committed by her boyfriend, Stasious Scott, in his flat.
His body was then dumped in a bin shed in Wembley, northwest London, where it was found 48 hours later by bin collectors. Scott left the country four days after the killing occurred.
John, Scott, and Scott’s co-accused Cornell Burrell appeared at the Old Bailey on Monday October 17, alongside others charged with conspiracy to pervert the court of justice.
Burrell, 36, from Wandsworth, has denied murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, along with John, from Mitcham, and five others including Cecilia Bruce-Annan, 50, from Stanmore .
Making the case for the prosecution, Joel Smith said that John’s career as a criminal lawyer would have provided invaluable insight into police investigations and would have been highly useful in covering up a crime.
He said: “Their efforts culminated in Mr Bello’s body being transported from Stockwell to Wembley just after midnight on November 25, where it was unceremoniously dumped in the bin shed, where it was found a few hours later.
“Having killed Mr Bello, Scott and Burrell quite literally wanted to get away with murder.”
The others accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice are Scott’s father, Oliver Scott, half-brother Paris Bell-McKay, Dawit Girmay, and Christopher Hattan.
Burrell denies murder, while he, John, Scott, Bruce-Annan, Oliver Scott, Bell-McKay, Girmay, and Hattan all deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The trial continues.
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