Web searches on fatal blows and freezers made before suitcase murders, jury told

North Wales Chronicle

5 days ago

Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, is on trial for the murders of Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, on July 8 2024 in the flat the two shared in Scotts Road, Shepherd's Bush, west London.
Mosquera is alleged to have repeatedly stabbed Mr Alfonso, who suffered injuries to his torso, face and neck, while Mr Longworth was attacked with a hammer to the back of his head and his 'skull shattered', prosecutor Deanna Heer KC has previously told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court.
On Tuesday, it was suggested that Mosquera, a Colombian national who does not speak English, made repeated computer searches to find a freezer in the build-up to the killings.
Many of the searches were in Spanish, some used Google translate and were also made while Mosquera was the only person in the house, the jury heard.
He asked questions about delivery options and several searches were looking for a deep freezer, a chest freezer, a large indoor and outdoor freezer for sale.
In the days before the killings the phrase 'hammer killer' was tapped into the computer.
Giving evidence through a translator, Mosquera, who blames Mr Alfonso for Mr Longworth's death, said he must have carried out that search.
The prosecution alleges that Mosquera, who took part in filmed sex sessions with Mr Alfonso 'decapitated and dismembered' two men and left their heads in a freezer before travelling to the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol with other parts of their bodies.
CCTV images in which Mr Longworth appears in a window show that he was still alive at the time those searches about potentially fatal blows to the head were made on July 8, the jury heard.
Ms Heer asked Mosquera: 'Can you think of any reason why you would look for a search about 'where on the head is a knock fatal?' while Mr Longworth is still alive?'
He replied 'no reason'.
Ms Heer later said: 'I suggest that you did that in the morning and why you were searching for 'where on the head is a knock fatal?' is because you were planning to kill Mr Longworth.'
Mosquera replied: 'No'.
Ms Heer suggested the killing 'probably' happened around the time the curtains were seen closing at 12.30pm.
She told Mosquera: 'You closed the curtains at 12.30pm and open them at 1pm.
'I suggest that this is the time you took a hammer and hit Paul Longworth.
'You approached him from behind and you hit him on the head with the hammer. You did so repeatedly.'
Mosquera flatly denied the allegation and said: 'No'.
A white plastic bag which had flaky and dried blood in it was found to contain Mr Longworth's DNA.
Ms Heer asked Mosquera: 'Did you put that bag over Mr Longworth's head before you hit him with the hammer?'
Mosquera replied: 'No.'
Mosquera admits killing Mr Alfonso but claims it was manslaughter by reason of loss of control.
He denies murdering either man and insists Mr Alfonso killed Mr Longworth.
Mosquera had first come to the UK from Colombia in June 2024 on the promise of English lessons and financial support from Mr Alfonso, whom he had met years earlier through webcam sex websites.
Mosquera has previously told the jury he feared for his own life and believed he was about to be killed when he stabbed Mr Alfonso.
Mosquera said he was thinking about what he claims Mr Alfonso had done to Mr Longworth. Mosquera said he was thinking about the threats Mr Alfonso had made to him and how he had been treated.
Footage of the moments when Mosquera killed Mr Alphonso was played again to the jury. It includes the pair naked during a sex session and Mr Alphonso being stabbed.
At one point in the footage Mosquera says in English 'do you like it?'
Asked why he said this, Mosquera told the court: 'I do not know. What I see here, I don't like. I do not know. I do not remember anything of that moment.'
At another point he sings and dances in the aftermath of the attack.
Asked if he had enjoyed what he had done and was celebrating, Mosquera said: 'I do not remember anything of what I see.'
Mosquera then went on to the computer and tried to access money from his victim, the prosecution say.
Mosquera claims he saw Mr Alfonso's dismembered body and decided to copy it.
He said: 'I saw Paul's body and cut Albert's body. I do not know exactly the moment but I cut it having seen Paul's body (parts).'
Ms Heer told Mosquera: 'All the things you did after the event – sending messages to Mr Alphonso's boss, arranging for the man with the van to come, arranging for the freezer to be delivered – were all the things done so that you could hide what you have done.'
On July 10, Mosquera was driven to Bristol and was on the bridge when bridge staff noticed something appeared to be leaking from the red suitcase, the court previously heard.
Mosquera said it was oil and the staff shone their torches on the suitcases.
Mosquera began to walk away, saying he was going to get the other suitcase, but walked past it then broke into a run.
Ms Heer told Mosquera: 'You went to Bristol. You told us that you intended to get rid of the suitcases – throwing them.
'Do you agree that once you got to Bristol you lied to people about what was in the suitcase?
'The two people who tried to help you at the pub, the taxi driver – you told them that the suitcases contained mechanical parts or car parts – and the cyclist and bridge staff.
'You have lied to the jury throughout your evidence.'
Mosquera replied 'no'.
Ms Heer told him he was 'fully in in charge of your actions throughout these hours' but Mosquera responded 'no, because I can not recall at all what happened'.
Ms Heer said: 'All the things that you cannot remember are the things that prove you are guilty.
'So you have found a way to simply not answer the questions.'