Gordon Semple sentence: 'Breaking Bad' killer who dissolved body in acid jailed for life with minimum of 24 years
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The man who strangled police officer Gordon Semple during a bondage sex session and then tried to dispose of his body in acid has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 24 years.
Stefano Brizzi, 50, was sentenced at the Old Bailey today. He had admitted he was inspired by the TV series Breaking Bad when he attempted to get away with the murder by dismembering PC Semple's body. He was found guilty in November, after more than 30 hours of jury deliberation.
The court heard how the former Morgan Stanley IT developer met his victim on gay dating app Grindr and arranged a “hot dirty sleazy session” at his flat near London’s Tate Modern gallery on 1 April.
According to Brizzi, a crystal meth addict, PC Semple died when a dog leash he had been wearing as part of a sex game slipped. But a pathologist concluded that while strangulation was a possible cause of death, it would have taken minutes rather than moments, as the defendant had claimed.
Brizzi denied trying to cannibalise parts of Pc Semple by cooking and then biting into a rib found in his kitchen bin.
However, at his sentencing, the prosecution said an expert odontologist had since confirmed that even though Brizzi claimed not to remember it, he had in fact tried to eat human flesh.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC also him sentenced to seven years' prison for obstructing a coroner, which will run concurrently.
The judge said there were “terrible features” of the case and that Brizzi's drug addiction had ruined his life.
He told the Italian: “Regret you express now for Mr Semple's death has to be seen against what you did over a number of days to his body.”
The defendant sat in the dock with his head bowed throughout the hearing.
Additional reporting by Press Association