'Cold-hearted' caretaker who murdered woman and dumped her body in bin where she was 'incinerated' jailed
4 December 2023, 15:32
An evil caretaker who murdered a young woman and dumped her body in a bin before she was "incinerated" has been jailed.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Mark Moodie, 54, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years for the murder of Maureen Gitau.
Maureen, 24, was last seen leaving her home in Deptford, South East London, where she had earlier celebrated her aunt's birthday.
She told her family she was going to meet Moodie, a caretaker she had grown close to while working at the Oval cricket ground.
Read More: Fire destroys Tube carriage with 'flaming bag melting into floor' as detectives begin arson probe
But he lured her to a block of flats where he worked and she was not seen leaving the building. It is feared her body was covered in rubbish and incinerated at a plant.
Maureen's mum labelled the caretaker a "coward and a cold-hearted murderer" in a heart-wrenching victim statement.
Moodie, of Nightingale Place, Woolwich, denied murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice.
Moodie was caught on CCTV moving a huge communal waste bin in the basement of Richmond House in Deptford.
It was reported that the rubbish was picked-up a few days later and taken to a processing plant.
Met Police launched a massive search and examined 500 hours of footage captured from doorbells, shops and buses. They also sifted through 2,750 tonnes of waste that was delivered to a site in Essex by 125 trucks.
This involved 60 officers each day - totalling 20,000 search hours.
Despite the massive search, Maureen's body has still not been found.
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, said: "My thoughts today are with Maureen's family, who have been cruelly prevented from putting a much loved daughter, sister, niece and cousin to rest. I am glad we have, been able to bring to justice the man responsible for her death.
"Mark Moodie murdered Maureen and then disposed of her body. He has never admitted any responsibility and told lie after lie after lie.
"He is a contemptible individual and I am glad the jury has seen through his deceit and found him guilty or Maureen's murder.
"My team spent many months investigating Maureen’s murder, their professionalism and dedication is just one example of the Met's determination to bring killers to justice.
"Once we realised how Moodie had disposed of Maureen's body, we carried out one of the largest searches of waste the Met has ever seen.
"We were desperate to find her, for the sake of her family, and it will always be a regret that she was gone by the time we understood what Moodie had done with her body."
