Man who dumped remains in suitcases guilty of murder

A man has been found guilty of double murder after killing two men and dumping their remains in suitcases on Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Yostin Mosquera, 35, murdered Paul Longworth, 71, and Albert Alfonso, 62, while staying at their flat in Shepherd's Bush, London, on 8 July 2024.

Mosquera "decapitated and dismembered" the pair, froze parts of their remains and brought the rest in suitcases to Bristol.

The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told the jurors at Woolwich Crown Court they had witnessed "terrible, brutal events" in footage shown to them during the trial. He ordered a psychiatric report for Mosquera and set a sentencing date of 24 October.

It took the jury just over five hours to return the two guilty verdicts.

Mr Alfonso enjoyed "extreme sex" and Mosquera, a Colombian national whom he had first spoken to online in 2012, was part of that world, jurors were told.

The Colombian met the two men when he travelled to London to visit them in 2023, in the same year Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth became civil partners.

Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth later split up but remained close friends.

When Mosquera was invited to London for a second time, he stabbed Mr Alfonso to death during a filmed sex session.

Footage shown in court showed Mosquera singing and dancing in the aftermath of the attack.

He had killed Mr Longworth with a hammer earlier the same day, shattering his skull, and hid the body in a divan bed in the apartment.

Mosquera made a plan to dispose of the remains after the "calculated" and "premeditated" killings by throwing the suitcases off Clifton Suspension Bridge, the prosecution said.

But he was said to have misjudged his own strength, instead dumping the suitcases on the bridge.

Mosquera admitted killing Mr Alfonso but had claimed it was manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

He had pleaded not guilty to murdering both men and claimed Mr Alfonso had killed Mr Longworth.

Mosquera said he feared for his life and thought he was going to be killed himself when he stabbed Mr Alfonso.

He also claimed threats had been made to his family in Colombia.

After the verdict was returned earlier, the judge told him: "I am not going to pass sentence on you today although the only one I can pass on you is one of life imprisonment.

"I am going to order a psychiatric report on you. It is in your interests to cooperate with the psychiatrist so that I can decide the minimum term you are going to serve."

Speaking to the jurors, Mr Justice Bennathan said: "We put serious demands on jurors, in this case more than most.

"It went on much longer than the two weeks you were expecting. In this case you have had to look at a very tough video.

"They were terrible, brutal events and to read about it is a dreadful thing, but to see it is really shocking.

"If you do want to seek help then speak to the court staff – above all, thank you."

Det Ch Insp Ollie Stride, from the Metropolitan Police, said Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth "were best friends".

"This has been one of the most harrowing murders my team have ever investigated, a case that will stay with many of us for a long time," he said.

"Paul and Albert were murdered in the most brutal and callous of ways in their own home.

"The investigation has been complex and intense and we worked tirelessly to build a catalogue of evidence which would ensure we brought Mosquera to justice.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain with Paul and Albert's family and loved ones and all who knew them, as they continue to process the trauma of what happened."

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