London woman sentenced to life in prison year after her friend was found decapitated
A British woman has been sentenced to life in prison for decapitating her former friend and disposing of her body last year, the BBC reported Friday. The sentence was handed down one day after authorities announced Jemma Mitchell, 38, was convicted of murder.
On Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC sentenced Mitchell to life in prison, with a minimum term of 34 years to be served, the BBC reported, in what was the first televised sentencing of a woman for the crime of murder in England and Wales.
Mitchell, a resident of northwest London, is accused of killing Mee Kuen Chong, who was also known as Deborah Chong, at the Chong's home in nearby Wembley in June of 2021. Chong, 67, became friendly with Mitchell after the two met through a church group, and Mitchell "also acted as a spiritual healer for Deborah" during this time, police said.
Prior to Chong's death, authorities say she was struggling with her mental health. Mitchell was renovating her home at the time, and asked Chong for money to help finance the project, police said. Although Chong supposedly agreed at first to lend Mitchell roughly £200,000, she ultimately withdrew the offer and, according to police, this decision "led to the pair falling out" just days before the murder.
"Deborah Chong was a vulnerable lady – in the weeks before her murder, she was seeking help for her declining mental health," said Jim Eastwood, detective chief inspector at the Metropolitan Police and lead investigator on Chong's case. "However, Mitchell – so desperate to obtain the money she needed to complete the renovations on her house – sought to take advantage of Deborah's good will, but when Deborah changed her mind, she callously murdered her and embarked upon an attempt to fraudulently obtain her estate."
Chong was last seen alive on June 10, 2021, and police said she was "most likely killed" by Mitchell the following day. The investigation into Chong's death revealed CCTV footage of Mitchell at Chong's home on the morning of June 11. Video also shows Mitchell walking in the opposite direction of the residence while carrying two large, wheeled suitcases, which, "by Mitchell's actions ... appeared to be heavy," police said.
Authorities believe that Mitchell returned to her own home with Chong's body and kept it there for about two weeks, before driving to a seaside town in southern England and disposing of the remains.
"In that time, Mitchell had made a false report via email to a missing persons charity and sent a WhatsApp message to Deborah's lodger saying Deborah had gone to spend time with her family for a year to clear her head," police said. "Perhaps most chillingly, given where Deborah was eventually found, Mitchell also wrote she had planned to stay 'somewhere close to the ocean.'"
Chong's remains were discovered in Salcombe, a seaside town, on June 27, 2021, with the head removed from the body and found several yards away, according to police. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that Chong had suffered injuries consistent with assault, including a skull fracture, and determined that the head was removed by another person, not an animal. Mitchell had "a degree in osteopathy and experience in human dissection," police said.
Days after Chong's remains were found, police say Mitchell contacted the U.K.'s missing persons charity and reported that Chong had previously told her that "she felt neglected and was staying with family by the sea."
When Mitchell was arrested less than one week later, authorities found a forged copy of Chong's will at her home, which left nearly all of her estate to Mitchell, as well as "various possessions belonging to Deborah" and identification documents that once belonged to the victim. Police say that Mitchell "used this person's identity as a witness to the forged will, as well as reactivating their mobile phone which she used to hire a car to transport Deborah's body to Devon."
Mitchell was charged with murder shortly after her arrest on July 9 of last year.