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A man who murdered two men and dumped their dismembered remains in suitcases near Clifton Suspension Bridge has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years, for his “thoroughly wicked crimes”.
Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, killed civil partners Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, in their flat in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, in July last year.
He repeatedly stabbed Alfonso, who sustained injuries to his torso, face and neck, while Longworth was hit with a hammer on the back of his head and his skull was shattered.
Mr Justice Bennathan jailed Mosquera for life with a minimum tariff of 40 years and 264 days. The judge described Mosquera as an “odd man” who committed “premeditated and thoroughly wicked crimes”.
He added that Mosquera “may never be safe to set free”. The Colombian national was told he would be deported back to Colombia if he was ever released.
Mosquera was staying with the couple when he “decapitated and dismembered” them, froze parts of their remains and took the rest in suitcases to Clifton Suspension Bridge, in Bristol, his trial heard.
A jury at Woolwich crown court unanimously found Mosquera guilty of both murders in July.
Alfonso took part in extreme sex and Mosquera, who he had met online years earlier, was part of that world, jurors heard.
Alfonso was stabbed during a filmed session. Footage played in court showed Mosquera asking: “Do you like it?”, and then singing and dancing after the attack.
Seconds after the murders he went on a computer to try to steal from his victims’ bank accounts. He accessed a spreadsheet of financial passwords and tried to log into the couple’s bank accounts.
He unsuccessfully tried to send £4,000 to his account in Colombia.
The prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court Mosquera’s plan had been to throw the suitcases off the bridge to dispose of the remains after the “calculated” and “premeditated” killings.
Mosquera admitted killing Alfonso but claimed it was manslaughter by reason of loss of control. He pleaded not guilty to murdering both men and claimed Alfonso killed Longworth. Mosquera told the jury he feared for his own life and believed he was about to be killed when he stabbed Alfonso.
Computer searches for the phrase “where on the head is a knock fatal?” were made on the day the couple were killed.
Two days after the murders, Mosquera travelled to Bristol’s landmark bridge with the remains of his victims in a large red suitcase and a silver trunk. A cyclist who asked Mosquera what was inside, was told the case and trunk contained car parts.
Bridge staff noticed something leaking from the suitcase, which Mosquera told them was oil. When they shone their torches on the cases, he fled.
In his sentencing remarks, Bennathan said: “You ended up on the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I am sure that your aim was to throw the cases full of body parts off the bridge in an attempt to dispose of them.
“This was a hopeless endeavour as the bridge had CCTV, security staff and a high wire fence along its length. Being an incompetent criminal, however, does not count as mitigation. When challenged, you fled.”
Mosquera, who does not speak English, made repeated computer searches to find a freezer in the lead-up to the killings, the court heard.
Many of the searches were in Spanish, some used Google translate and were made while Mosquera was the only person in the house.
He asked questions about delivery options and searches were made for a deep freezer, a chest freezer, a large indoor freezer and an outdoor freezer.
Before he was sentenced, Mosquera pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children. He admitted possession of 1,500 category A images, 750 category B images, and 4,000 category C images.
Bennathan said the images found on Mosquera’s laptop showed “very young children being subjected to a variety of sexual abuse really of horrifying detail and nature”. He sentenced him to 16 months for these offences to run concurrently with his life sentence for the murders.
