George Gordon, 65, is accused of murdering his friend Delia McInerney in April 2023 and keeping her dismembered body in a chest freezer at his flat in St Helens, Merseyside, for almost three years, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday, November 4.
Ms McInerney, who was 62 at the time of her death, had been due to move to Portugal for a “new life” days after she was killed, the court was told. She stayed with Gordon at his flat in Gerards Court when she was not travelling abroad or at her house in Anfield, Liverpool.
Body found in freezer
Martin Reid KC, prosecuting, told the jury Ms McInerney’s body was found by police in a chest freezer at Gordon’s flat on January 8 this year. He said after her death, Gordon posed as his alleged victim in messages and emails to her friends.
“Unbeknown to them, but known very well to the defendant, Delia McInerney had died in April 2023, at the defendant’s hands. Her dismembered body was found in a chest freezer in the defendant’s flat on January 8 this year,” Mr Reid told the jury.
“In the meantime, the defendant fraudulently obtained thousands of pounds from her bank accounts, and obtained a loan and credit cards in her name.”
Claims of self-defence
Gordon, who did not appear in the dock, admits killing Ms McInerney, described by a relative as his “soulmate”, but initially told police he had hit her with a hammer to “end her suffering” after she had taken an overdose. He now claims he acted in self-defence, Mr Reid said.
The court heard Ms McInerney, who had concerns about 5G phone masts close to her home in Anfield, had been due to move to Portugal with her guinea pigs in April 2023. After hearing of her plans, Gordon bought items, including a sledgehammer and a handsaw, which were “consistent with those that would later be used, or required, to kill and dismember Ms McInerney”, Mr Reid said. He also collected prescriptions for medications later found in her system.
Last footage and fraud
On April 11, Gordon took a video of Ms McInerney with her guinea pigs, which was the last footage in which she was seen alive. Examinations of the guinea pigs showed they died by drowning, the jury heard.
Gordon, known as Chris to his victim and their friends, is accused of murdering his friend on the evening of April 11 or in the early hours of April 12. Later on April 12, more than £2,000 was sent from Ms McInerney’s bank accounts to Gordon, the jury was told. He then went to The Sefton Pub for breakfast, accompanied by a pint of Strongbow and a double whisky, before ordering a chest freezer from Amazon.
Mr Reid said Gordon, who travelled to Portugal on April 24 and visited the property Ms McInerney owned there, posed as his victim in messages to her friends and neighbours. He told some she had been taken ill, while others were told she had gone to the King’s coronation in May 2023 with Gordon, where she claimed they had met Dame Joanna Lumley and Sir Stephen Fry in Westminster Abbey.
“This ridiculous account would almost be amusing were it not for the knowledge that all this time, rather than meeting famous actors at the King’s coronation, Ms McInerney’s body was lying in a chest freezer in the defendant’s flat in St Helens,” Mr Reid said.
The court heard Gordon’s “web of lies” began to unravel in December 2025 after a request was made to the Department of Work and Pensions by someone called Chris Cavendish-Gordon, who claimed to be a social worker, asking for Ms McInerney’s personal independence payment (PIP) to be transferred to a different account. After telephone inquiries and financial checks, Gordon was arrested at his flat on January 8 and as he was escorted out told officers “she’s in there” and added “she’s in the freezer”.
Gordon denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
