Murdered salesman 'couldn't get killer to leave his home'
Jeffrey Howe was a fun and sociable man who was dedicated to his work in kitchen sales.
He won awards for his success in the business and has been described as "a very good salesman" and "very professional".
Customers thought he seemed genuine and good-natured.
But to his colleague, friend and murderer, Stephen Marshall, he was also the "ideal candidate" to kill and take over his life, one witness has said.
He would be "quite easy to get rid of", Marshall allegedly said.
Mr Howe, 49, lived alone in Southgate, north London, and had financial and health problems.
To some who knew him, he appeared quite lonely.
He liked cars and owned two Jaguars, one of which he replaced with a Saab after crashing it.
He had had to borrow money to buy the expensive Jaguar cars, which left him in a bad way financially - he is believed to have racked up a £50,000 debt on credit cards.
He was also a smoker and enjoyed drinking gin and in his final months his health was deteriorating, which worried him.
Not long before he was murdered, he told his brother he had been diagnosed with chronic lung disease.
Meanwhile he was trying, and failing, to get Marshall and his girlfriend Sarah Bush to leave his flat.
He had offered his colleague a place to stay when he needed somewhere in late 2008, but when he became unhappy with the arrangement, he found himself unable to do anything about it.
His friend John Moody has described how he was not "his usual happy self" when he told him there were two people living with him who he did not want there.
Marshall, he said, was eating him out of house and home.
He felt uncomfortable going home because Marshall and Bush were always there, Mr Moody said.
Marshall began goading him about getting out of his home and even threatened to kill him and his family if he did not, Bush allegedly told a friend.
Mr Howe appeared not to take the threats seriously, the court heard, but Marshall meant exactly what he said and on March 22 the first of Mr Howe's dismembered limbs was found wrapped in blue plastic by the side of a Hertfordshire road.
