Derby woman convicted of murdering and dismembering partner before burying her in the garden

A woman from Derby has been convicted of murdering her partner 15 years ago and burying her in the garden of the house they shared.

Anna Podedworna (40) killed Izabela Zablocka, who was 30 at the time, dismembered her body and concealed her in a makeshift grave in the garden of their home in Derby. She then covered the burial site with a concrete hardstanding. The couple had come together from Poland to look for work in the UK in 2009, and had a turbulent relationship.

In August 2010, Izabela’s regular calls to her mother and daughter in their native Poland abruptly ceased. They reported her missing in the UK and in Poland, but Podedworna claimed Izabela had left some weeks previously. She offered an untrue theory that Izabela had fled to London following an altercation with a dangerous individual.

15 years later, after contact with missing person’s charities in Poland and pending a visit from a journalist from Poland, Podedworna disclosed to police online where Izabela’s remains were buried. She attended Peartree police station in Derby and informed officers that Izabela had died in a violent confrontation between the two, but with Podedworna acting in self-defence.  As a result of that admission, she was arrested on suspicion of murdering Izabela. The police conducted a search of the property and found Izabela’s remains buried in the garden. 

Derbyshire police immediately rearrested Podedworna and, as a result of their investigation, the CPS charged her with murder, preventing lawful burial and perverting the course of justice. She was tried at Derby Crown Court and today, Tuesday 10 February, convicted of Izabela’s murder.

Samantha Shallow of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Izabela Zablocka came to Derby in search of a new life with her partner, but instead met her death. Anna Podedworna not only brutally murdered her partner, but she subjected Izabela’s loved ones to 15 years of uncertainty and anguish, not knowing if she was alive or dead.

“Podedworna hid the truth for years, but justice has caught up with her. Her callous actions took a mother and daughter away from her family and denied them the opportunity to grieve her passing and lay her to rest. I would like to offer them my sincere sympathies.”

Anna Podedworna will be sentenced on Wednesday 11 February.

Building the Case: proving non-recent homicide

Although Anna Podedworna alerted the police to where she had concealed Izabela Zablocka’s body, and admitted responsibility for her death, the CPS still had to prove a case of murder. That means the jury had to be satisfied that she acted unlawfully and had intended to kill or do really serious harm to Izabela when she killed her, whereas Podedworna claimed that she had acted in self-defence and did not intend to do her really serious harm.

With the time elapsed since Ms Zablocka’s death, it was not possible to establish the cause of her death. Without this evidence that often shows, for example, the force used to inflict injuries, the CPS built a case around other evidence of Podedworna’s relationship with Ms Zablocka and her conduct after she killed her.

The prosecution case highlighted the number of lies told by Podedworna to police investigating Ms Zablocka’s disappearance, family members and charities searching for her. Her claim that Ms Zablocka had left without telling her where she had gone was untrue. Evidence showed that Izabela contacted her mother and daughter every few days, so it was inexplicable that she would cease all contact with them, in particular failing to contact her daughter on her birthday. 

The measures she had taken to conceal Ms Zablocka’s remains were significant evidence. Expert witnesses outlined to the jury the considerable effort it would take to cut her former partner’s body in half and bury her.

The prosecution’s case was this was an effort to cover up the cause of Ms Zablocka’s violent death to avoid responsibility. Podedworna even went to the lengths of covering the site with a concrete hardstanding to reduce the risk of detection. Had Ms Zablocka’s death been the result of an accident or self-defence, the prosecution suggested she would not have gone to these lengths.

Evidence from her employment at a local food processing plant showed that as a professional butcher, she had the skills and equipment to carry out this grim task and, more significantly that she had taken two weeks off work the day after Izabela’s last phone call to her family.

The CPS presented evidence that Podedworna had been violent to Ms Zablocka on previous occasions and their relationship had showed signs of jealousy, arguments and violence. Family members gave evidence from their time living together in Poland of violent outbursts, including Podedworna chasing Ms Zablocka out of their flat with a knife, forcing her to take refuge in her car.

Searches of Podedworna’s phone revealed searches on street view of the address where she had lived with and killed Ms Zablocka. The search also showed her conversations with the ‘Missing for Years’, the charity in Poland searching for Ms Zablocka and her reactions to public appeals for information about the disappearance. The prosecution’s case was that within these communications, Podedworna told deliberate lies to cover up the murder.

She had also researched legal processes, prisons and whether convicted criminals could continue to receive benefits. The prosecution’s case was that this, as well as other entries, including conversations with friends about the case and efforts to seek solace in religion were evidence that she had murdered Izabela and knew that the killing was unlawful.

As well as the charges of murder, Podedworna was prosecuted for preventing unlawful burial, for her admitted concealing of Izabela’s body and perverting the course of justice for her lies to the investigations into Izabela’s disappearance.