Man guilty of murdering Lorraine Cox in Exeter flat before dumping her body
Watch Bob Cruwys' report
A man has been found guilty of murdering a woman who went missing after a night out with friends in Exeter.
Lorraine Cox, aged 32, went missing after spending a bank holiday evening with friends in Exeter in August last year.
Her disappearance remained a mystery for more than a week, until police found parts of her body cut into pieces cut into pieces and dumped in bin bags in an alleyway in the centre of Exeter.
Azam Mangori - who admitted preventing her lawful burial but denied killing her - has been found guilty of murder by a jury at Exeter Crown Court today (Thursday 1 April).
During his trial, the jury heard Mangori took Miss Cox to his home above the kebab shop in the St Mary Arches Street where he killed her.
He then used her SIM card in his mobile phone to pretend she was alive and well to family and friends.
Miss Cox had moved to Scotland with her partner earlier in the year but was in Exeter for a short break in August, visiting friends and family.
At around 1.30am she left The Arcade pub on Fore Street on her own to begin walking back to her father's house where she was staying.
At 2.15am, CCTV shows she met Mangori, who was walking alone through the city centre. They walked together up to Sidwell Street and then, arm in arm, back down the High Street to his flat above a kebab shop.
She was not seen alive again.
CCTV footage from Exeter City Centre shows Mangori (blue dot) following Lorraine Cox (pink dot) in her last sighting before she was murdered
Mangori, who had applied for asylum in the UK but been turned down, had been living in Exeter since July 2020 using the name Christopher Mayer.
In the days after Lorraine Cox disappeared he left his flat multiple times for shopping trips to buy bin bags, tape, polythene sheeting and air fresheners, each time recorded on CCTV.
The court heard that during the course of the week, he wrapped her body parts in bags and left them in an alley with the bins.
Mangori was arrested at his home after police had tracked Miss Cox’s final movements from CCTV.
By the time police found her remains, the effects of decomposition made it impossible to be sure of the cause of her death.
His sentencing was adjourned until Wednesday 7 April.
Read more: