Care assistant 'dumped in suitcase'

Care worker Leah Questin, whose remains were found dumped in a suitcase
12 April 2012

A care assistant looking for love was murdered and dumped in a suitcase by a man she had met on the internet just weeks earlier, a court has heard.

The naked remains of 37-year-old Leah Questin, from the Philippines, were discovered squeezed into the case beside a dried-up pond near Cliffe, Kent, in September last year.

IT specialist Clinton Bailey, 36, is alleged to have killed her before draining her bank account and looking for a chance to get rid of her body. Bailey, a South African living in Malpas Road, Lewisham, south London, had financial problems, a jury was told. He denies murder at the Old Bailey.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: "Leah Questin was searching for affection, a relationship, and possibly marriage - some form of permanent relationship.

"The defendant was also looking for a relationship. He already had a relationship with a girlfriend called Debra Jooste. But he also had another matter that was affecting his life. He had serious money problems at this time."

The court heard that in August, Bailey had placed an advert on the Gumtree website saying that he was a "very intelligent 33-year-old living in south London", looking for a woman from the Philippines, jurors were told.

Miss Questin, who lived in Cricklewood, north-west London, contacted him the same day and soon they were regularly in touch, said Mr Wright.

She withdrew £900 from her bank account and sent Bailey a text saying she loved him, but he was still in email contact with his girlfriend giving the impression he was in South Africa, the court heard.

On September 12, Oyster card records showed Miss Questin travelling towards Bailey's flat, jurors were told. Later that evening her card was used to make a cash withdrawal of £180 in south London - by which time prosecutors say she was dead.

Over the next nine days the account was "systematically drained" of more than £2,000 in a series of withdrawals on an almost daily basis, the court heard.

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