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Boyfriend 'beat partner to death then dumped body parts in bins and toilet'

<em>Murdered – Kirby Noden was beaten to death and cut up, Truro Crown Court heard (Picture: Devon & Cornwall Police)</em>
Murdered – Kirby Noden was beaten to death and cut up, Truro Crown Court heard (Picture: Devon & Cornwall Police)

A man beat his girlfriend to death with a rock and a metal pole then chopped up her body and disposed of it in dustbins and down a toilet, a court has heard.

Dean Lowe, 33, allegedly attacked Kirby Noden, 32, in the bedroom of their basement flat in Marazion, Cornwall in January last year.

Truro Crown Court heard that nobody knew what happened to Miss Noden for five months until Lowe allegedly sent text messages to relatives saying there had been a body on the floor of the flat which he had cut up and put in bins and down the toilet.

Prosecutor Paul Dunkels QC said: “The defendant attacked her in their bedroom of the flat, beating her to death with a rock and a metal pole. He then disposed of her body.

“Her blood was splattered around the bedroom from the attack upon her and it soaked into the mattress where her body had been laying and it was on the weapons he had used to murder her.”

<em>Trial – Dean Lowe is on trial at Truro Crown Court for the murder of Kirby Noden (Picture: PA)</em>
Trial – Dean Lowe is on trial at Truro Crown Court for the murder of Kirby Noden (Picture: PA)

He said: “No one other than the defendant knew what had happened to Kirby Noden for five months until May of last year when the defendant began to send text messages to members of his family in Cheshire that there has been a body on the floor of the flat which he had cut up and put into bins and down the toilet.

“They contacted the police and when the police went to the flat the defendant showed that officer the blood and admitted to the police officer he had killed Kirby Noden and disposed of her body.”

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The court heard the couple, originally from Winsford in Cheshire, had a “chaotic lifestyle” marked by homelessness and drug use, with Lowe taking “some form of pills”.

It is alleged that Lowe killed Miss Noden – who was last seen on January 11 last year – some time between then and January 14 last year.

<em>Confession – when a police officer arrived at the flat, Lowe told him: “January, that’s when I did it.” (Picture: PA)</em>
Confession – when a police officer arrived at the flat, Lowe told him: “January, that’s when I did it.” (Picture: PA)

A benefit payment of £220.40 was paid into her bank account on January 10 and later that day all but 40p was withdrawn in cash, the court heard.

The prosecution alleges that Lowe had her bank card but did not have her pin.

When police arrived at the couple’s flat months later they found bloodstained weapons – a metal pole in the bathroom and the rock, which it is claimed had fractured into pieces with the force of the blows.

“Having killed her the defendant moved her body, probably in pieces, and cleaned up the worst of the blood and cutting away the worst of the carpet,” Mr Dunkels said.

Lowe sent messages to family members telling them about the body, and told a cousin: “She’s dead and has been chopped up and put down the toilet and in the bins down the road.

“Either I’m getting set up or I’ve murdered Kirby. I had a black out, hazy memory and woke up with a body on the floor. I am scared so I just got rid.

“I put the body in the bins down the road. I remember the binmen finding all the meat and didn’t know what it was. The carpet was lifted because of the body matter.

“It took a week to get rid of the body, it was horrible. (My) head’s gone. I know what I saw, it was real, it seems real. Either Kirby dead or set up.”

When a uniformed officer arrived at the flat to investigate, Lowe confessed and told him: “January, that’s when I did it.”

Mr Dunkels said: “He went on to tell the officer how he did it. He said there was blood on the floor and he had to cut up the carpet because of the blood and guts.

“The defendant told the officer he must have killed her and cut her up. He also said he had made a necklace out of Kirby’s teeth.”

Lowe, of Beacon Road, Marazion, denies murder. The trial continues.