A construction worker, 56, killed his secret lover, 37, and hid her body in the boot of her Ford Fiesta before dumping it on a Jersey beach to look like suicide, a murder trial heard.
Jamie Lee Warn, 56, is accused of killing Zsuzsanna Besenyei, 37, and hiding her corpse in the boot of her car for several days.
Zsuzsanna’s body washed up at La Pulec bay on the Channel Island of Jersey in May 2018, six days after she went missing.
It was so decomposed that pathologists could not determine a cause of death.
Warn was convicted of murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice last year, but it was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
A jury at Jersey Royal Court heard that trial had been ‘flawed and unfair’.
A retrial has heard how Warn’s elaborate alleged cover-up in May 2018 was an attempt to ‘literally get away with murder.’
Jamie Lee Warn, 56, is accused of killing Zsuzsanna Besenyei, 37, and covering up the murder by making it appear as though she took her own life
Jurors were told Warn killed Zsuzsanna and hid her in the boot of her Ford Fiesta.
He is then alleged to have driven her Ford Fiesta to a beach to make it look like she had travelled there herself.
Her lifeless body was later found washed up at La Pulec bay in St Ouen on the Channel Island of Jersey six days after she went missing.
He then left her car on the sands at St Aubin to make it appear as though she had taken her own life – the car was unable to be checked by forensics due to the extensive water damage it suffered.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, told jurors Warn ‘murdered a young lady he was having a secret sexual affair with.’
Pathologists could not establish a cause of death for Zsuszanna due to the time she spent in the water. A jury has heard her accused killer ‘told a series of lies to police to cover up what he had done’
He added: ‘He hid her body in the boot of her car for a number of days, and then dumped her body on a beach on the north coast.’
Advocate Thomas told the court Warn later ‘drove her car into the sea at St Aubin’s Bay, abandoning it, in an attempt to create the impression, she had committed suicide.
‘He then told a series of lies to the police to cover up what he had done.
‘He was quite literally trying to get away with murder.’
Commissioner Sir William Bailhache, presiding, told the court there was no secret this was a retrial but added there was a ‘new judge and that they were a new jury.’
Commenting on earlier proceedings, Sir William told the jurors in March 2019 the defendant had been found guilty of murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice.
But he added the Court of Appeal decided the conviction was ‘flawed and unfair.’
He told the jury this was for ‘good reason, which doesn’t concern you’ and said they must approach the trial with an ‘open mind.’
Warn denies murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice.
The court heard Miss Besenyei, who was born in Hungary, moved to the Channel Island of Jersey in 2013 and found work in a local hotel alongside the defendant.
Although they both later left their jobs they continued to keep in touch.
Despite being in a long-term relationship, as was evidenced by a string of text messages read out in court, Warn was also having a relationship with Miss Besenyi.
The court was told that although Miss Besenyi had a full-time job she was often short of money and Warn would help her out.
Zsuzsanna’s body washed up at La Pulec bay on the Channel Island of Jersey in May 2018, six days after she went missing. It was so decomposed that pathologists could not determine a cause of death. Due to the time it was left in the water, forensics found no evidence on the car
When in May 2018, as text messages read out in court highlighted, she needed money for a haircut, Warn promised to give her the cash.
But he failed to deliver, and the texts between the two became more heated.
On the evening of Thursday 10 May, she agreed to meet Warn at his home.
Clips from various CCTV cameras which tracked Miss Besenyi driving her Ford Fiesta were shown to the court.
She left her home at around 6pm, arrived at Warn’s at 6.30pm and was never seen alive again.
It is thought a text was sent from her mobile phone at 7.30pm but nearly an hour later the prosecution claim CCTV footage from Checkers at First Tower shows Warn buying hand sanitiser.
Although the prosecution admit they do not know exactly how, where or when Miss Besenyi died, they allege she was murdered during this 50-minute window.
The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.