Woman ‘murdered her girlfriend and buried her body in garden’ where it remained for 15 years… until ‘killer’ contacted police, court hears

A court heard that after a woman killed her girlfriend and dismembered her body, she put her body in black plastic bin bags and buried it in her garden, where it remained for 15 years.

Jurors were told Anna Podedworna, 40, killed Izabela Zablocka, 30, out of “sexual jealousy”, then covered it up with a series of “deliberate, calculated, horrific and time-consuming acts”.

When a Polish journalist contacted Podedworna last year to ask about Ms Zablocka’s whereabouts, she emailed Derbyshire police to say they would find her body under the concrete in the backyard.

Ms Zablocka suffered a ‘violent death’ at the home shared by the two women in Derby and her body was found ‘tied like a chicken’, the court was told.

Wearing a gray sweatshirt and black glasses and listening to the defendants with the help of a Polish translator, Podedworna denies that the murder prevented a lawful burial and perverted the course of justice between August 27, 2010 and June 2, 2025.

Opening the case at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC warned jurors about details of the case they might find distressing.

He said Podedworna worked as a ‘skilled butcher’ and cut Ms Zablocka’s body in half and then hid her remains in a ‘filthy, makeshift grave’.

Mr Aspden said his actions showed how “determined he was to conceal what he had done and to destroy all incriminating evidence of the murder he had committed”.

Mr Aspden told jurors he then “went on with his life as normal”.

Izabela Zablocka, 30, moved to England in 2009 and lived in Normanton, Derby. He last saw his family in Poland in August 2010.

The court heard that Ms Zablocka was born and raised in Trzebiatow, a small town in northwestern Poland.

He married and had a daughter named Katarzyna, but the relationship did not last long and they separated, and soon Mrs. Zablocka began a sexual relationship with Podedworna.

Mr Aspden said the two women rented a flat together in Poland but did not have much money, so they went to England in 2009 to look for work.

Ms. Zablocka’s daughter, then nine years old, was left with relatives in Poland.

Initially Ms Zablocka and Podedworna lived together in London, but in 2010 they moved to Derby and a small terraced house in the Normanton area of ​​the city.

The two women found work at a local poultry factory: Cranberry Foods in Scropton, Derbyshire.

Mr Aspden said Ms Zablocka kept in touch with her family in Poland by phone while she was in the UK, calling them every few days.

On Saturday, August 28, 2010, Ms Zablocka called her mother as usual and they ‘chatted, caught up on each other’s news’.

A scene from the police investigation that led to the discovery of Izabela Zablocka’s remains in June 2025

‘Everything seemed quite normal,’ Mr Aspden said. ‘Nothing was wrong.’

That was the last time they heard from him.

Mr Aspden said: ‘After this phone call Izabela’s family never saw or heard from her again.

‘To all intents and purposes, he has been completely wiped off the face of the earth. What happened to Izabela? Where was he?’

He said Podedworna killed him shortly after his last phone call to his mother.

Mr Aspden said that after doing so he “cut Izabela’s body in half with a large knife, bound it with electrical tape, placed the now bloody human remains in black plastic bin bags and buried them in the backyard.”

‘A hard section of concrete was then laid on top to hide Izabela’s filthy, makeshift grave,’ he said.

‘By his behavior the defendant showed that he was determined to conceal what he had done and to destroy all evidence that would incriminate him in the murder he had committed.’

He said his ‘post-murder cover-up’ involved ‘a series of deliberate, calculated, horrific and time-consuming acts which he carried out with determination and purpose over several days’.

Mr Aspden said exactly how and why the defendant killed Ms Zablocka ‘only he knows and for obvious reasons he will never reveal’.

But he said there was evidence of sexual jealousy and that the relationship was stormy and turbulent.

He said: ‘The murder of Izabela Zablocka took place in this toxic environment and this volatile environment.’

Ms. Zablocka’s family reported her missing. first to the police in England in November 2010, and then to the police in Poland in January 2011.

Mr Aspden said his family “had to live in constant anxiety and fear, unsure whether he was dead or alive” but thanks to their “enduring dignity” they never gave up on him and clung to the hope they would one day see him again.

The court heard that Ms Zablocka’s daughter, who is in her mid-twenties, contacted a Polish organization called ‘Missing for Years’ in 2024, asking for help finding her mother.

The organization contacted Podedworna, who still lives in Derby, but he denied knowing Ms Zablocka and said he did not know what had happened to her.

Then, in May 2025, a Polish television journalist named Rafal Zalewski contacted the defendant and requested an interview.

Police made a ‘cruel and grim discovery’ at a property in Normanton, Derby, on June 1 last year. By then, all that remained was a skeleton and a few small pieces of human tissue. Subsequent DNA tests revealed that the remains belonged to Ms. Zablocka

Mr Aspden said this was a ‘tipping point’. He said: ‘In the end the defendant could feel that justice had finally caught up with him. The increased pressure caused it to crack.’

On May 21, 2025, Podedworna emailed Derbyshire Police and said he wanted to provide them with evidence.

He later told them they would find Ms Zablocka’s body buried in the backyard of their former home on Princes Street in Derby.

He went to the Podedworna police station and told the officers that Ms Zablocka had died accidentally during a violent confrontation between them and that he was defending himself.

Mr Aspden said: ‘This new and newly made claim of self-defence was yet another lie told by the defendant to conceal his guilt, cover up the murder and deceive and deceive those around him.’

He told the police there had been an ‘accident’, two women had fought and he had hit Ms Zablocka as she tried to defend herself. He said it ‘happened very quickly’ and added: ‘He wasn’t alive.’

The court heard the woman ‘led her life normally’ for the 15 years following the murder. His mother and sister had joined him in England. She later became involved with a local man and had two children with him.

His home was searched when police found a diary containing extensive references to religion and a note that read: ‘I confess that I have sinned against a perfect God.’

Police made the ‘grim and bleak discovery’ on Sunday, June 1 last year. By then, all that remained was a skeleton and a few small pieces of human tissue.

DNA tests later revealed that the remains belonged to Ms. Zablocka.

Officers also found a ‘pet cemetery’ directly above the grave where Ms Zablocka’s remains were found, containing the bones of two dogs, at least three cats and other animals.

Mr Aspden said Ms Zablocka was found ‘tied like a chicken’.

He said both legs were hyperflexed backwards and upwards from the knees. Electrical tape was then used to securely attach them to this location.

The back of her calves were tied to the back of her thighs.

‘In short, the lower half of his body was tied up like a chicken you’d see in the supermarket.

‘Soil and other remains found in two black bin bags were sifted and a number of other body parts were also seized.’

Mr Aspden said Podedworna’s cover-up was “extremely successful” and that “with great effort” he destroyed all evidence of how he killed Ms Zablocka.

He said that due to the passage of time and the condition in which the remains were found, it was not possible to determine the cause of the woman’s death.

Jurors were told that during the inquest, police discovered Podedworna worked as a skilled butcher and that his job involved skinning, deboning and portioning turkey carcasses using a large knife.

He was part of the team known as ‘Cutting 1’.

Jurors were also told that before the body was found, a Polish journalist traveled to the UK to interview Podedworna about Ms Zablocka’s disappearance.

He said Ms. Zablocka told him she had problems with alcohol, but he denied knowing anything about her disappearance.

The journalist said he told him in 2010 that Ms. Zablocka had made it a “condition” for their relationship to continue for her to undergo gender reassignment surgery. He had told her that Izabela agreed to do it but then lost interest, causing a conflict between them.

Podedworna was arrested on suspicion of murder. He did not respond to any comments during the next eight interviews.

The trial continues.