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Woman 'killed and dismembered after being lured into stranger's flat on night out'

Lorraine Cox was murdered in a flat above a kebab shop in Exeter, prosecutors claim. (SWNS)
Lorraine Cox was murdered in a flat above a kebab shop in Exeter, prosecutors claim. (SWNS)

A 24-year-old man killed a woman on a night out and then cut her body into seven pieces in his flat above a kebab shop, a court has been told.

Lorraine Cox, 32, was walking home from drinks with friends when she came across Azum Mangori, who had a "sexual encounter" with her in an alleyway before murdering her, prosecutors say.

He then tried to cover up the crime by dismembering her body and using her SIM card to make it appear she was still alive, Exeter Crown Court heard on Monday.

Mangori denies her murder.

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Jurors have heard that Cox was murdered after being taken to Mangori's flat above a kebab shop. (SWNS)
Jurors heard that Lorraine Cox was murdered after being taken to Azum Mangori's flat above a kebab shop. (SWNS)

Simon Laws QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Cox went missing after spending last year's August bank holiday with friends, and then "had the great misfortune to be spotted" by Mangori as he walked the streets alone.

"Her whereabouts were a mystery to her friends and family for the next week," Laws said.

"No one knew where she was – the answer was that she had been killed by this defendant."

Mangori, who has also used the named Christopher Mayer, had never met Cox before, jurors heard.

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Lorraine Cox was killed in Exeter city centre in August 2020, prosecutors have said. (Devon and Cornwall Police/SWNS)
Lorraine Cox was killed in Exeter city centre in August 2020, prosecutors have said. (Devon and Cornwall Police/SWNS)

"He took advantage of her drunken state to have a sexual encounter with her in an alleyway," Laws said.

"He then led her back to his room above a kebab shop in the city centre and he killed her there."

He told jurors that Mangori cut her body into seven pieces and disposed of them.

"He mutilated the body in other ways," the prosecutor added.

"He disposed of her clothing and all of the possessions she had had with her and then he took the SIM card from her phone and used it to pretend to be her, to pretend to the world that she was still alive.

"In summary, he went to enormous efforts to get away with his crime, but those efforts were all in vain.

"He had no idea of the scale and intensity of the police investigation that was to follow."

Mangori was charged with her murder eight days after Cox was reported missing.

The trial, which is expected to last for four weeks, continues.

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