Polish Woman Sentenced to 21 Years for Murdering Partner in UK

Murder Case Overview

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A Polish woman who murdered her partner and then buried her dismembered body in the garden of the house they shared in England was jailed for a minimum of 21 years on Wednesday.

Anna Podedworna, 40, had moved from Poland to Derby, central England with Izabela Zablocka in 2009 to look for work. Zablocka, then 30, was reported missing the following year after contact with her mother and daughter in Poland suddenly stopped.

Prosecutors said Podedworna killed Zablocka in 2010 and then used her skills as a professional butcher to cut her body in half and bury her in their garden, which she later had concreted over.

Details of the Crime

"To all intents and purposes you then carried on your life as if nothing untoward had happened," Judge Heather Williams told Podedworna as she sat in the dock at Derby Crown Court.

Court Proceedings

Last year, shortly after a visit from a Polish journalist investigating Zablocka's disappearance, Podedworna finally told police where they would find Zablocka's body.

Podedworna claimed she had killed Zablocka in self-defence during a violent argument, but was convicted of murder following a trial.

Impact on Victim's Family

Judge Williams said: "The way you set about brutalising Izabela's remains without any apparent remorse was consistent with you killing in anger the partner you had come to despise."

Podedworna was also convicted of preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice.

The judge added: "Your actions caused untold misery and trauma to Izabela's family, who were left with no idea where she was or what had befallen her and who desperately sought to find out what had happened."

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alex Richardson)