Anna Podedworna faces life behind bars for the murder of Izabela Zablocka
Izabela Zablocka(Image: Derbyshire Police)
A butcher who chopped her girlfriend in half with a kitchen knife and buried her in a Midlands garden more than 15 years ago has been convicted of murder.
Polish national Anna Podedworna killed Izabela Zablocka before trussing her up ‘like a chicken’ with electrical tape
The 40-year-old then dumped her remains in bin bags in a ‘filthy, makeshift grave’.
Mum-of-one Ms Zablocka lost contact with her family in August 2010 and was reported to the police as missing.
‘Mounting pressure’ caused Podedworna to ‘crack’ and email police last year when a Polish television journalist flew to the UK to interview her.
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Last June, officers found the 30-year-old’s remains under concrete hardstanding in the garden of a terraced house in Princes Street, Normanton, Derby.
She had shared the home with her killer after they moved to the UK from Poland together.
Jurors unanimously convicted Podedworna, of Boyer Street, Derby, of murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice following a trial at Derby Crown Court.
Podedworna now faces life behind bars will be sentenced at the same court on Wednesday, February 11.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC previously told jurors that Podedworna tried to cover up the murder with a series of ‘deliberate, calculated, gruesome and time-consuming acts’ over several days.
‘Considerable force’ would have been needed to cut Ms Zablocka’s body in half.
Her legs had been bound together before she was buried, the jury heard.
Podedworna was a skilled butcher at a poultry factory called Cranberry Foods in Scropton, Derbyshire, at the time she killed her victim.
Mr Aspden had told the court: “Her work had involved skinning, deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife.”
Employment records at the Cranberry Foods factory indicate that Podedworna took two weeks off work after Ms Zablocka made her final contact with her mum.
Giving evidence with the support of a Polish interpreter, Podedworna said Ms Zablocka was ‘angry’ on the day of her death.
She alleged Ms Zablocka then grabbed her and began strangling her.
Podedworna told jurors she was acting in self-defence when she hit Ms Zablocka with a horse figurine and that she had believed her partner was going to kill her.
Instead of calling for an ambulance when she could not find a pulse, Podedworna said she decided to cut Ms Zablocka in half with a knife and bury her in the garden.
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She told jurors: “I was just terrified, I felt fear. I thought I will bury her. I took the decision I would bury her in the garden.
“I wanted to pick her up whole. I just did not have the strength to pick her up.
“I had an idea to cut her down. It seemed the only way… to cut her into two.”
Samantha Shallow, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Ms Zablocka came to Derby in search of a new life with her partner, but instead met her death.
“Podedworna not only brutally murdered her partner, but she subjected Izabela’s loved ones to 15 years of uncertainty and anguish, not knowing if she was alive or dead.
“Podedworna hid the truth for years, but justice has caught up with her.
“Her callous actions took a mother and daughter away from her family and denied them the opportunity to grieve her passing and lay her to rest. I would like to offer them my sincere sympathies.”
