Guilty: Man who murdered his girlfriend and dumped her body in Little Venice
Tomasz Kocik with Marta Ligman - Credit: Archant
An abusive boyfriend has been found guilty of battering his girlfriend unconscious in their Harlesden before stuffing her body into a suitcase and dumping it into a canal where it was found in Little Venice.
Marta Ligman was beaten and stuffed into a suitcase - Credit: Archant
Tomasz Kocik, 38, had a history of violence towards 23-year-old Marta Ligman before he killed her in a jealous rage at their flat in Harlesden.
The Old Bailey heard Ms Ligman, who is just 5ft 2in, may still have been alive when he dumped the suitcase in the Grand Union Canal on May 1 this year.
The case containing her heavily bruised body was found floating near Little Venice after it collided with a houseboat on May 10.
Kocik, a Polish forklift truck driver, claimed that he found her lying dead on the sofa after a weekend orgy of drugs and sadomasochistic sex.
Thomas Kokick will be sentenced on Friday - Credit: Archant
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He met Ms Ligman online in 2011 while she was still living with in Poland and she moved in with him six months later.
The relationship soured and Kocik regularly physically and verbally abused Ms Ligman, covering up their fights by playing loud music.
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He was so controlling that he picked her up from work at delicatessen Delicja Polish Deli every day.
On one occasion he even demanded her boss Levent Camlar show him CCTV footage to prove she has been to work, it is claimed.
Her colleagues and friends saw her with black eyes and facial bruising - which Kocik claimed were from sex while they were both high on amphetamines.
After he killed Ms Ligman he told his neighbour she had walked out on him and faked text and Facebook messages to her friends and family.
He also texted Mr Camlar to say: “I’m sorry, I have to go back to Poland. My mum’s sick.”
Kocik, who denied murder, will be sentenced on Friday.
