I did cut up body and put it in suitcase, murder accused tells court
A man accused of killing his housemate has admitted cutting up the victim's body and putting it in a suitcase.
Lorenzo Simon denies murdering Michael Spalding but has accepted his actions caused his death.
Simon, aged 34, of Oxford Road, Smethwick, claims he threw a single punch at Mr Spalding, in self-defence, after a confrontation. He told a jury at Birmingham Crown he went into a state of shock and panic after realising Mr Spalding, aged 39, was dead.
Mr Spalding's body was found dismembered in two suitcases, one at a canal in Smethwick and one in Ladywood.
Taking to the witness box yesterday Simon told the court he had acted on instinct and now had to live with what he had done.
He said: "I relive it every day. It is the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I try to go to sleep."
Simon told the court he had confronted Mr Spalding about beating up Kirsty Fryer. The pair were in a relationship and living with Simon and his partner, co-defendant Michelle Bird.
When told he must move out Mr Spalding reacted badly, Simon told the court, and punched Simon to his shoulder.
It was then Simon hit Mr Spalding, who fell to the floor, the court heard.
He told the jury he thought Mr Spalding was 'messing about' but after finding no pulse he attempted mouth-to-mouth.
Simon then went into a state of shock, the court heard.
He said he was now appalled at himself and ashamed of what he had done.
When Bird, who had been out at the shops, returned to the Oxford Road home she said to phone the police, he said.
But he told the jury he dissuaded her from doing so because 'he was thinking of the prison bars'.
Asked by Richard Christie, defending Simon, why he later had cut up the body, Simon said it was solely so he could put it in a suitcase .
"It was about being able to manage his body from the house to wherever I was going to dispose him.
"I couldn't walk with him in my hand in the street, could I?"
Simon told the court he felt numb as he dismembered the body and was panicking.
Both Simon and Bird, aged 35, deny murdering Mr Spalding on April 26 last year.
The trial continues.
