Suitcase murders ‘one of the most harrowing police have investigated’

The murders of a couple whose remains were packed into suitcases to be dumped have been described as “one of the most harrowing” the policing team has ever investigated.

Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, killed partners Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, on July 8 last year in their flat in Scotts Road, Shepherd’s Bush, west London.

Mosquera, who was staying with the couple, “decapitated and dismembered” them, froze parts of their remains and took the rest in suitcases to a bridge in Bristol.

He was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court for life with a minimum term of 42 years on Friday.

Detective Chief Inspector Ollie Stride, who led the investigation, told reporters outside court: “This has been one of the most harrowing murders my team and I have ever investigated.

“The team have consumed hundreds of hours of footage, including watching the murder of Albert Alfonso numerous times. Those images will stay with all of us for a very long time.”

He added that the case has been “traumatic for all of my colleagues involved to work on”.

Mr Stride said Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth were murdered “in the most brutal and callous of ways”.

“They had known one another for decades and were in a loving, caring relationship,” he told reporters.

“They did not deserve to have their lives taken away in the most traumatising of circumstances, in the privacy of their own home, where they had welcomed Mosquera in.

“The couple had opened their door to a man so evil he would take advantage of their lively spirits and generosity and murder them to satisfy his own gains.”

He said police have worked with the LGBT+ independent advisory group over the course of the investigation.

Mr Stride continued: “This sentence sees justice secured for the cold-blooded murder of two innocent men and has taken an evil and dangerous offender off the streets.”

Avon and Somerset Police officers were also involved with the case when Mosquera took the suitcases containing body parts to Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Detective Inspector Neil Meade, from the force, said in a written statement: “Yostin Mosquera committed truly barbaric crimes which he had clearly planned in advance.

“He has shown a complete lack of remorse for what he did and I’m pleased that Albert and Paul’s family and friends have now seen justice served with this sentence.”

Senior crown prosecutor Miranda Jollie said Mosquera “calculated every action” in the lead up to the attacks.

“Our thoughts remain today with everyone who knew Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso,” she said outside court.

“Paul and Albert were taken from them in violent and brutal circumstances.

“It was clear that Yostin Mosquera planned and calculated every action in the lead up to the killings.

“This included the premeditated purchase of a chest freezer, internet searches on how to inflict fatal injuries, accessing financial documents, and accessing Albert’s bank account in the immediate aftermath of the attack.”