A woman who allegedly decapitated her friend did so as part of a plot to steal money from her, a court has been told.

Jemma Mitchell, 38, is accused of killing Mee Kuen Chong on June 11 last year.

The Old Bailey previously heard how the two used to be ‘friendly’ but had fallen out over money.

On Wednesday, the prosecution outlined reasons behind Mitchell’s alleged actions.

Prosecutors say the 38-year-old – an expert in body dissection – was hoping to be gifted £200,000 from Ms Chong.

She is believed to have wanted the money for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, north-west London.

But Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, before Mitchell allegedly killed her and disposed of her remains during a 500-mile round trip to Salcombe in Devon.

Mitchell then set about forging a fake will on her computer so she could inherit the bulk of Ms Chong’s wealth, the prosecution claims.

Doctored paperwork was uncovered in a search of the defendant’s home while Ms Chong’s genuine will was later found in her own house.

The fake will had suggested 95% of Ms Chong’s estate was to go to Mitchell for her house project, with the remaining 5% promised to Mitchell’s mother, the court also heard.

In reality, Ms Chong had actually left her house to her local church.

The document was dated October 2020 but was created on July 1 – after Ms Chong was already dead.

One of the forged signatories was Mitchell’s neighbour who died last March, jurors were told.

Ms Chong’s signature was also ‘extremely unlikely to be genuine’ and appeared to have been copied from her UK passport, the persecution said.

The prosecution said: ‘In this case, the motive is clear: money.’

Ms Chong had died after suffering a skull break ‘suggestive of an impact with a hard implement or weapon’, the court heard.

Mitchell was allegedly seen on CCTV pulling a large blue suitcase with Ms Chong’s body stuffed into it, and a smaller red suitcase, with all of Ms Chong’s financial paperwork inside.

That same day, she was treated at St Thomas’s Hospital for a broken finger, claiming she shut it in a car door – which the prosecution said was a lie.

Mitchell allegedly told Ms Chong’s lodger that his landlord had gone away ‘to stay with family friends for a year to clear her head, somewhere close to the ocean’.

The defendant is said to have hired a Volvo on June 26, giving the phone number registered to a neighbour who died earlier that year.

Mitchell picked up the car and was allegedly caught on CCTV stowing the large blue suitcase in the boot before setting off for Devon.

The Volvo was next seen on CCTV at a garage in Marlborough, as the car’s tyre was ‘shredded’ and needed repairing.

The court heard how the repairman opened a back door and noticed an ‘unusual smell – sort of musty and damp, a smell which he had never smelled before and could not describe’.

Later that evening, the car was seen on CCTV near the spot where Ms Chong’s body had been found on June 27, jurors heard.

Mitchell was arrested last July 6 and told officers: ‘I know that she has gone away.’

In a search, police recovered the blue suitcase from the top of a neighbour’s shed, with tests matching blood on a tea towel inside a pocket to the Ms Chong’s DNA, it was claimed.

Mitchell has denied murder, claiming the death had nothing to do with her.

The trial continues.

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