Jigsaw man accused changes plea to guilty

A man on trial for murdering a colleague and disposing of his body parts across two counties has changed his plea to guilty. Jurors at St Albans crown court were told that Stephen Marshall, 38, now admitted murdering Jeffrey Howe, from Southgate, north London, who became known as the "jigsaw man" after his body parts were found scattered around Hertfordshire and Leicestershire last year. The admission came at the end of the third week of the trial. Marshall had previously admitted dismembering Howe but denied murder. He was on trial alongside his girlfriend, Sarah Bush, 21, who still denies murdering and dismembering Howe. The court has heard that Marshall, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, had moved into the flat of Howe, who knew him through his work as a kitchen salesman. Marshall refused to leave and planned to take over his colleague's identity after murdering him. The prosecutor, Stuart Trimmer QC, said Marshall hatched a "determined" plan to hide Howe's disappearance while making use of his money and property. Trimmer said Marshall and Bush, an escort from Southgate, paid no rent to Howe and stole his food. Marshall stabbed Howe to death and dismembered him in his own home on 8 or 9 March last year. The couple began to use his bank account as soon as they had killed him, Trimmer told the court. They sold his car, a Saab, on eBay and began spending his money on clothes, shoes, food and other goods. Howe's remains were discovered by members of the public between 22 March and 11 April last year. His left leg, severed at the thigh, was found wrapped in blue plastic close to the roadside in Cottered, Hertfordshire, on 22 March. A week later his left forearm, severed above the wrist and below the elbow, was found by the side of the road in St Albans, and on 31 March the remains of his severed head were found in a field in Leicestershire. The flesh of the scalp and face had been removed and the ears, tongue and parts of the neck had been cut away, the jury was told. Howe's severed right leg was found just off the A10 near Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, on 7 April, wrapped in rubber bags and sealed with tape. Finally his torso was found in a green suitcase in a drainage ditch at Colliers End, Hertfordshire, on 11 April. Howe's hands are still missing. At the start of the trial, Marshall pleaded guilty to two counts of perverting the course of justice by giving false information about the wellbeing and whereabouts of Howe when police were conducting a missing person investigation, and by dismembering his body and disposing of the parts in different places to impede the investigation. He also admitted intending to prevent a coroner from holding an inquest by disposing of the body in various locations across two counties. The court has heard evidence from friends of Bush, who claim she told them when drunk that Marshall was the killer. After the change of plea, the prosecution said the proceedings against Bush were "a matter that now needs to be considered".