Willesden woman faked will after dumping pensioner’s headless body, court hears

Mee Kuen Chong, 67, known to friends as Deborah, was reported missing from her home in Wembley on June 11 2021.

On June 27 her body was found in an area of woodland in Salcombe, South Devon.

Mee Kuen Chong, 67, was found in Devon after being reported missing from Wembley (Image: Devon and Cornwall Police)

Jemma Mitchell, 38, of Brondesbury Park, who had worked as an osteopath in Australia, had allegedly failed in an attempt to extract £200,000 from Ms Chong to pay for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, jurors at the Old Bailey heard on Wednesday (October 12).

They were told that after Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, Mitchell killed her and disposed of her remains during a 500-mile round trip to Devon last June.

She then set about forging a will on her computer so she could inherit the bulk of Ms Chong’s wealth, the prosecution claims.

The fake will was uncovered in a search of the defendant’s home, Deanna Heer KC told jurors.

Ms Chong’s genuine will – leaving her house to her church with the remainder to family and charity – was found at her Wembley home.

Ms Heer told jurors: “In this case, the motive is clear: money.

“A large sum was needed to complete the repairs on the defendant’s house and, in Mee Kuen Chong, the defendant found someone from whom she thought she could get it, if not when she was alive, then by forging her will after she had killed her.”

The prosecutor said Mitchell killed Ms Chong last June 11 at the victim’s home – after taking a large blue suitcase with her.

Ms Chong suffered a skull break “suggestive of an impact with a hard implement or weapon”, Ms Heer said.

Ms Heer went on: “Having killed or at least fatally injured the deceased, she needed to get rid of her body and so she removed it in the blue suitcase.

“That is why, when she left… it was so much heavier than when she arrived and why, on June 26 2021 the defendant travelled over 500 miles to Salcombe, taking it with her.

Mee Kuen Chong (Image: Met Police)

At 1.13pm on June 11, Mitchell was caught on camera walking from Ms Chong’s home with a suitcase that appeared to be “a lot heavier” than when she arrived, Ms Heer said. She was also pulling another suitcase, belonging to Ms Chong, which allegedly held paperwork relating to her financial affairs.

On learning from Ms Chong’s lodger that she was missing, Mitchell allegedly told him “she was going to stay with family friends for a year to clear her head… somewhere close to the ocean”, the court was told.

“And it is why she drove to… the area in which the deceased’s mutilated body was to be found the following day.”

Police investigating Ms Chong’s disappearance tried to contact Mitchell last June 26, jurors were told.

Three days later, she emailed back – claiming the victim was “planning to stay with friends near her sister’s family on the coast”.

Mitchell was arrested last July 6 and told officers: “I know that she has gone away.”

In a search, police recovered the blue suitcase from the top of a neighbour’s shed, with tests matching blood on a tea towel inside a pocket to the victim’s DNA, it was claimed.

In a bedroom was the fake will, dated October 2020, which purported to leave 95% of Ms Chong’s estate to the defendant for her house project and 5% to the Mitchell’s mother, the court heard.

One of the forged signatories was Mitchell’s neighbour who died last March, jurors were told.

Ms Chong’s signature was also “extremely unlikely to be genuine” and appeared to have been copied from her UK passport, Ms Heer suggested.

An examination of Mitchell’s computer revealed a Word document of the same will had been created on July 1 – after Ms Chong was already dead.

Mitchell denies murder.

The trial continues.