Chilling CCTV captured moment murderer drags wheelie bin with woman's body inside

20 July 2022, 11:30 | Updated: 20 July 2022, 11:47

Chilling CCTV footage captured a lorry driver dragging a wheelie bin containing the body of a woman who he beat to death before dumping her in a park.

Neculai Paizan was found guilty of murdering Agnes Akom, 20, by beating her over the head more than 20 times with an electric saw in his converted-shipping container home in North West London.

After the jury delivered a guilty verdict, police released CCTV images of Paizan moving his victims body in a wheelie bin before he buried her below a pile of logs and branches in a nearby park.

On 11 May 2021, Agnes, who was also known as 'Dora', was reported missing to police.

She had left her home in the Cricklewood Broadway area two days earlier and had not been heard from.

Police scoured through CCTV footage which confirmed that Paizan and Agnes had entered his container on 9 May 2021 but it ominously did not show her leaving at any time after that day.

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The murderer was seen later carrying a number of items from the container to his car before visiting a skip and Neasden Recreation Ground.

Over the coming days, Paizan visited the park where he had hidden the body five times while telling his son he wanted to go back to Romania.

Inside the skip, officers found Agnes' bloodstained coat whilst other bloodstains were discovered in Paizan's car.

Ms Akom's body was found a month after police launched their investigation, covered in a black plastic bag with a cord around her throat.

Giving evidence, Paizan, a concrete mixer driver, admitted moving the body but denied murdering the young woman he knew as Dora, falsely claiming she poisoned him with iced coffee.

He described how he came to love her "like a daughter" after finding her begging for small change in a supermarket car park.

However, the evidence suggested that he had preyed on her vulnerability and targeted her with the promise of money.

They met 54 times over the 12 months before the murder and jurors were shown photographs Paizan took of Ms Akom semi-naked, the court heard.

He told jurors she would strip, dance, play games and send him "sexy" pictures and videos but they did not have sex.

On the day of the killing, they had arranged to meet by Facebook Messenger.

The 64-year-old claimed he woke up and found Agnes, who was also known as 'Dora', dead after she had drugged him but a jury took just one hour to deliver a guilty verdict.

Alongside CCTV footage, police also released pictures of the shipping container Paizan chose to live in without running water, despite owning a £700,000 flat in Notting Hill.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, said: "Our thoughts today are with Agnes’ family and friends, who not only have suffered from her loss, but have had to endure hearing the details of her murder during this trial.

"The level of violence Paizan used in his attack on Agnes is truly horrific. What she suffered inside the container does not bear thinking about.

"Whilst it is not clear why he killed her that day, his attempts to hide his crime in the following hours and days show a calculated effort to ensure that, not only was Agnes never found, but that he would not be caught.

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"Our enquiries, which started with phone data, quickly led us to identify Paizan as someone who had regular contact with Agnes. It was his actions that made him a suspect, and the resulting investigation led to him being charged.

"During his testimony at the Old Bailey, Paizan concocted a number of stories in an attempt to paint Agnes in a bad light. Our investigation, and what we know about Agnes, tell us that whilst she was vulnerable, he has clearly lied about her background and personal situation in an attempt to sway the jury.

"It is likely that he preyed upon these vulnerabilities to abuse her, ultimately leading to her murder."

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DCI John, added: "The work of my team in reviewing hours of CCTV footage, as well as that of our forensic colleagues in examining the crime scene – which Paizan had endeavoured to clean – was vital in establishing what happened to Agnes.

"This evidence was so strong that we were able to charge him with murder prior to us finding Agnes."

Judge Richard Marks QC adjourned sentencing until Monday so that an officer could travel to rural Hungary and speak to Ms Akom's family and obtain a victim impact statement.