Stefano Brizzi, 50, accused of murdering PC Gordon Semple, 59, has told the Old Bailey that his attempt to dissolve the officer's body in an acid bath was inspired by the TV show Breaking Bad. Brizzi, an Italian national, is charged with strangling and dismembering the policeman before attempting to dispose of the remains.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC suggested Brizzi was 'living out an episode' of the US drama, in which a character dissolves a body in acid. Brizzi admitted he was inspired by the idea, saying, 'I accept I considered without any rationality at all. I think I was inspired by that idea.' He added that he had no knives or saws and did not know what chemicals he was using.
Brizzi claimed PC Semple died during a 'sex game gone wrong' at his south London flat, and that he 'panicked' and felt 'paranoid'. Instead of calling the police, he decided to cut up and dispose of the body. The court heard officers later found a 'blue-green liquid' with 'flesh-coloured globules' in the bath at Brizzi's flat.
The prosecutor argued that Brizzi dismembered the body to prevent the pathologist from determining the cause of death, suggesting he could have hit the officer with a hammer. Brizzi denied acting out a strategy, stating, 'I tried to get away with it. I did not act out a strategy of some kind of well-thought ideas.'
