Killer jailed for 26 years after refusing to reveal body site

George Smith, 60, "disappeared without trace" after becoming involved in a love triangle with a woman half his age, the Old Bailey heard.

Drug dealer Dwayne Cupidon, 26, was found guilty yesterday of murdering Mr Smith and the judge said he would reduce his sentence if he would give up the body.

But Cupidon remained silent and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years.

Mr Smith was last seen in August last year but traces of his body tissue were found in the bathroom of his flat in Barnet, north London.

Judge Giles Forrester said: "The family have not had closure. This is a horrific and tragic story."

He said Cupidon had trawled the internet looking for ways to kill Mr Smith who was involved in a love triangle with him.

These included nerve gas and venomous snakes. He had also hired a car and looked up wooded areas and waste disposal sites.

After killing him in the kitchen, he dismembered him and moved the body bits away, said the judge.

"This was deliberate and cold-blooded behaviour of a very high order indeed," said the judge.

Mr Smith's former wife Judith had told the court: "Because his body has never been found, we have not been able to grieve in the normal way.

"I only hope that one day the truth will come out and he can be buried."

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said that two months before his death Mr Smith had "lived it up" in a Devon hotel with Kerry Mustoe, 30, with whom he had a long-term, on-off relationship. He had paid for their trip with 14,000 he had taken from a small safe he had stolen from Cupidon. The safe also contained drugs.

Miss Mustoe had just left Cupidon, who was enraged by the theft, and had asked Mr Smith to collect her things.