Gordon Semple trial: Breaking Bad fan Stefano Brizzi guilty of murdering policeman he met on Grindr

Stefano Brizzi: The Breaking Bad fan dissolved Mr Semple's body in an acid bath
Met Police
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A Satan-obsessed City worker who murdered a Met Police officer before butchering his body in a Breaking Bad-inspired plan to dissolve it in a bath of acid is facing life in jail.

Stefano Brizzi, 50, strangled PC Gordon Semple while high on crystal meth after inviting him to his Bermondsey flat for a chemsex and bondage party.

The Italian web developer, who had worked for financial giant Morgan Stanley, then copied the plot from his favourite TV show, Breaking Bad, in a desperate attempt to get away with murder.

He used saws to dismember PC Semple, tossing some parts in the River Thames, dumping other limbs in the communal bins at his home, and trying to dissolve the rest of the body in a bath of acid.

He is also suspected of cooking and eating parts of the body, the Old Bailey heard.

Six days after PC Semple, 59, had been killed, police officers were called to Brizzi's flat after complaints about a revolting smell, uncovering the grisly scene which was likened to a "horror movie”.

Brizzi, wearing just his speedo-style pants and aviator sunglasses, was caught red-handed with body parts in bin liners and buckets.

Victim: Gordon Semple
Metropolitan Police

He had a copy of the Satanic Bible and had scrawled messages to the devil, writing: “Satan I call you forth”.

When quizzed by police, Brizzi confessed he murdered the PC when the devil had told him to "kill, kill, kill".

Brizzi, who quit his job at Morgan Stanley because he was in the grip of a crystal meth addiction, denied murdering PC Semple on April 1, claiming he had throttled him accidentally during a kinky sex game gone wrong.

A jury deliberated for more than 30 hours before finding Brizzi guilty of murder on Monday and condemning him to life in prison.

Brizzi displayed no emotion as the verdict was delivered.

The Italian met PC Semple, an officer with the anti-social behaviour team operating out of Westminster City Hall, through gay dating app Grindr, bonding over their shared love of kinky sex games and S&M bondage before agreeing to meet up for sex

The officer, who was in a long-term relationship with partner Gary Meeks, was last seen leaving a business meeting at Shangri-La hotel at The Shard before meeting his grisly end at Brizzi's flat.

When he arrived at the flat in Southwark Street, Brizzi was already high on crystal meth and had laid out assorted drugs for them to take as well as a range of sex toys.

Within hours of arriving, PC Semple lay dead in the hallway and would over the next week be dismembered in horrific fashion.

Brizzi admitted in the witness box an episode in season 1 of Breaking Bad, where a body is dissolved in a bath of acid, inspired his efforts to get rid of PC Semple.

"I think I was inspired by the idea, I took whatever was there thinking maybe I can dissolve him", he told the jury.

"I probably thought of the acid in Breaking Bad. I am not saying that I was not inspired by the idea. How many other ways could I have disposed of a body?"

Before the trial began, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC warned jurors they would need "strong stomachs" to endure the evidence of what became of PC Semple's body.

Remains found: Forensics officers at the Peabody Estate
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Forced to relive the horror of chopping up the body, Brizzi broke down and sobbed: "I know I deserve punishment for what I have done - it's truly horrific."

But faced with evidence of teeth marks on a part of PC Semple, blood-stained chopsticks, and DNA on the chopping board, blender, and cooking pot, Brizzi insisted he was not a cannibal.

"This is something so, so incredible, so alien to me", he wailed. "I didn't put him in the oven because I wanted to eat him it wouldn't have occurred to me."

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the Recorder of London, has asked for any more evidence on the bite mark before he passes sentence.

Brizzi strangled PC Semple after they had engaged in a sex game, with the Met officer donning a black mask and dog collar and put through "puppy training".

As the killing was taking place, another man who had been invited to the sex party arrived at the front door but was hastily sent away before he could get into the flat.

Brizzi told him someone had fallen ill on drugs, but later confessed to police he had been strangling PC Semple at this exact moment.

The man, who gave evidence anonymously, told police: "I'm truly shocked, that could have been me" when told about what had happened that day.

Following the killing, Brizzi took a cocktail of drugs before setting about getting rid of the body.

He went to a local hardware store for saws, buckets, and chemicals, while continuing to chat online about sex in a bid to cover his tracks.

Police on the Peabody estate 
Jeremy Selwyn

He was spotted dumping body parts in the River Thames, and neighbours soon began to notice the smell of rotting flesh - which Brizzi blamed on burnt food and tried to disguise with a scented candle.

Mr Aylett accused Brizzi of being "self-absorbed" as he recounted in great detail his actions after PC Semple had died, including long ramblings detours into philosophy, spiritualism, and the intricacies of the gay chemsex scene.

After he was arrested, Brizzi admitted he started taking crystal meth in 2013 and was now hearing the voice of Satan because of his addiction.

Detectives found messages to the devil written by the Italian, who confessed: "The voice was consistent, a very clear voice said you must kill, you must kill, you must kill."

Brizzi pleaded guilty to obstructing a coroner by trying to dispose of the body, but denied murder and manslaughter.

He has been remanded back into custody until sentencing on December 9.

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