FILE NO. 0230
Case dossier · UK · Double murderConvicted 21 Jul 2025
The Clifton Bridge
Suitcase Murders
R v Yostin Mosquera · 2024–2025
Legal status: On 21 July 2025 a jury at Woolwich Crown Court unanimously convicted Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, a Colombian national, of murdering Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso. On 24 October 2025 Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced him on each count to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years 264 days, concurrent. He also pleaded guilty that day to three counts of possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children and received 16 months, concurrent. He will be deported to Colombia if he is ever released. Neither news searches nor the judiciary’s published judgments, checked on 13 October 2026, show an appeal. That is not a docket check.
Content warning: this dossier describes violent killings, dismemberment and sexual activity. Every detail comes from evidence given in court, the prosecution case, the defendant’s own testimony (identified as such) or the judge’s sentencing remarks.
Cover image: Clifton Suspension Bridge. Photo: Gothick, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Summary
File 01
At about 11.23pm on Wednesday 10 July 2024, CCTV on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol filmed a man walking backwards, dragging a heavy red suitcase. A large silver trunk sat a few metres away on the bridge approach. He looked over the parapet into the Avon Gorge, tried and failed to lift the case over the wall, and tried to rub away with his foot a stain the case had left behind. A cyclist and bridge staff challenged him. When torchlight showed red liquid leaking from the case, he ran.
The luggage held the dismembered torsos and limbs of two men. An address label led detectives to a flat in Shepherd’s Bush, west London. There they found blood in every room, a bloodstained hammer and, in a chest freezer blocking the bathroom door, two heads. The dead men were Paul Longworth, 71, and Albert Alfonso, 62, who had lived together for about 20 years. The man on the bridge was their house guest, Yostin Mosquera. Mr Alfonso had paid for his flights from Colombia.
The jury found that on 8 July 2024 Mosquera killed Mr Longworth with a hammer around midday and hid his body in the base of a divan bed. At about 10pm he killed Mr Alfonso during a sex session that Mr Alfonso’s own bedroom cameras recorded. Within minutes he was at Mr Alfonso’s computer, trying to move money to Colombia. Over the next two days he bought a freezer, cut up both bodies and hired a man with a van to drive him and the luggage to Bristol. Detectives on both forces say they never found out why he chose Bristol.
Mosquera admitted killing Mr Alfonso but said it was manslaughter by loss of self-control. He claimed Mr Alfonso had killed Mr Longworth and that he feared he would be next. The jury rejected that. The judge found both murders were committed for gain, called them “premeditated and thoroughly wicked crimes”, and told him: “I stress that is a minimum, you may never be safe to set free.”
People involved, by role
File 02
Victims
Paul Longworth, 71. British. A handyman at a luxury residential estate in Kensington, he had retired about four months before he was killed. The court heard he was dyslexic, relied on Mr Alfonso, and was a regular at his local pubs, the Sindercombe Social, the Shepherd and Flock and Central Bar. Witnesses called him a “typical Irish bloke” and “a jovial man”. The judge found he was “in poor health” and therefore particularly vulnerable. (BBC live, 21 July 2025; Independent, 21 July 2025; sentencing remarks.)
Albert Alfonso, 62. Born in France, he later took British citizenship, according to the Met. He trained at a hotel school, managed hotels in the UK and was general manager at the Kensington estate where he met Mr Longworth. At the time of his death he worked at the Mode Club Gym in Acton as a swimming instructor and was training as a lifeguard. People who knew him described him as funny, authoritative, motivated and private. (BBC live; Independent, 15 July 2024.)
Their relationship. Police said the two men lived together for about 20 years and entered a civil partnership in February 2023. BBC reporting of the evidence says they later split up as a couple but remained best friends and kept living together. The prosecution said Mr Longworth “had nothing to do with” Mr Alfonso’s extreme sex life, “although he knew about it and, it seems, that he accepted it”. The judge called them “a settled, affectionate couple”. (BBC live; Independent, 1 July 2025; sentencing remarks.)
Defendant
Yostin Andres Mosquera. He was 34 when arrested and 35 at trial and sentence. He is a Colombian national from Medellín, and the judge recorded that he spoke no English; he used a Spanish interpreter throughout. The court heard he has two children and a female partner, and that he had served in the military in Bogotá. He had left Colombia only twice, both times to visit Mr Alfonso. He posted sex videos online under several pseudonyms and was paid for them, including by Mr Alfonso. The CPS called him “a pornographic performer”. He had no previous convictions in the UK or Colombia. (BBC live; CPS; sentencing remarks.)
Court and counsel
- Mr Justice Bennathan (Joel Bennathan), judge at both trials and at sentence.
- Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, presided at the first Old Bailey hearing on 17 July 2024. (Independent, 17 July 2024.)
- Deanna Heer KC led the prosecution, with Theresa Hay (also reported as Teresa Hay), who examined witnesses.
- Tom Little KC defended at trial and sentence. Edward Hetherington appeared for the defence at the first hearing.
Police and prosecutors
- Det Ch Insp Ollie Stride, Met Specialist Crime Command, senior investigating officer.
- Det Insp Neil Meade, Avon and Somerset Police major crime team.
- Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine, Met, who made the public statements in July 2024.
- Acting Bristol Commander Vicks Hayward-Melen, Avon and Somerset Police.
- Miranda Jollie, senior crown prosecutor, CPS homicide team; Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor.
Witnesses named in reporting
- Douglas (Doug) Cunningham, a Spanish-speaking cyclist who challenged Mosquera on the bridge and filmed him running away.
- Jason Yearsley and Clare Webster, who offered him help outside a Clifton pub.
- Roger Malone, 92, and his son Giles, who watched him struggle with the cases outside The Mall.
- Julian Romero, the “man with a van” who drove him to Bristol and was not told what the luggage held.
- Dr Deborah Cook, forensic pathologist.
- PC Nick Swire, the CCTV officer who described the bedroom footage to the jury.
- Paul Greenwood, former general manager at the Kensington estate and a friend of both victims.
- “James Smith” (a pseudonym), who had known the victims for about 18 years.
- An unnamed neighbour, who gave evidence from behind a screen.
- Dr Bernard Chin and Dr Norma Estrada, the psychiatrists who wrote the pre-sentence report.
Timeline
File 03
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| c. 2012 | Mosquera, in Medellín, starts talking to Mr Alfonso over Skype and webcam sites | BBC 24 Oct 2025; Bristol Post 11 Jul 2025 |
| 2017 | Mr Alfonso begins paying Mosquera for sexual videos | BBC 24 Oct 2025 |
| Feb 2023 | Mr Longworth and Mr Alfonso enter a civil partnership | BBC live; Independent 21 Jul 2025 |
| Oct 2023 | Mosquera’s first UK visit, paid for by Mr Alfonso: Madame Tussauds, an open-top bus, a river boat; he meets “James Smith” | BBC live; Independent 1 Jul 2025 |
| Mar 2024 | The couple holiday at a resort in Colombia, including Cartagena; Mosquera joins them | BBC live |
| June 2024 | Second UK visit: gym guest membership, a four-week English course, a Brighton day trip | BBC live; sentencing remarks |
| 18 Jun 2024 | Mosquera researches buying a chest freezer | Sentencing remarks |
| 27 Jun 2024 | He copies spreadsheets of Mr Alfonso’s bank details and passwords onto his own laptop | Sentencing remarks; BBC 14 Jul 2025 |
| 4 Jul 2024 | He translates phrases to ask for a freezer to be delivered; by now he has all of both men’s bank details | Sentencing remarks; BBC 14 Jul 2025 |
| 8 Jul, morning | Mr Alfonso leaves for an early shift. Searches including “where on the head is a knock fatal?” while CCTV shows Mr Longworth alive at the window | Independent 1 & 15 Jul 2025; CPS |
| 8 Jul, 12.30 to 1pm | Curtains closed, then reopened. The prosecution says Mr Longworth was attacked then | BBC 15 Jul 2025; Independent 15 Jul 2025 |
| 8 Jul, evening | Searches on how long a corpse takes to decompose; he opens his boarding pass for a return flight to Colombia | CPS; Mirror 24 Oct 2025 |
| 8 Jul, c. 10 to 10.15pm | Mr Alfonso killed in his bedroom, on camera | Sentencing remarks; Independent 1 Jul 2025 |
| 8 to 9 Jul, night | Attempted £4,000 transfer to Colombia; cash withdrawals of at least £900 | BBC 30 Apr 2025; MyLondon 1 May 2025; BBC 14 Jul 2025 |
| 9 Jul, morning | A message from Mr Alfonso’s phone tells his manager he is flying to Costa Rica for a family emergency for about eight weeks | BBC 30 Apr 2025; MyLondon |
| 9 Jul | Chest freezer bought and delivery arranged | CPS |
| 10 Jul | A neighbour hears a heavy case dragged down the stone stairs. The van leaves for Bristol on the M4 | Metro 3 May 2025; Bristol Post 30 Apr 2025 |
| 10 Jul, c. 10.30pm | Dropped near The Mall pub, Clifton | BBC live |
| 10 Jul, c. 11.23 to 11.30pm | On the bridge; challenged; runs down Burwalls Road | Metro; MyLondon; Standard 21 Jul 2025 |
| 10 Jul, just before midnight | Police receive the report; officers arrive within 10 minutes | BBC 13 Jul 2024 |
| 11 Jul | Bridge closed; manhunt. His phone goes dark in the early hours | BBC 21 Jul 2025 (Boobyer & Hallett) |
| 12 Jul | Further remains found at the flat. A 36-year-old man is arrested in Greenwich and later released without charge | BBC 13 Jul 2024; Bristol Post 13 Jul 2024 |
| 13 Jul, about 2.15am | Arrested by armed Avon and Somerset officers on a bench outside Temple Meads | Independent 1 Jul 2025 & 17 Jul 2024; BBC 13 Jul 2024 |
| 15 Jul 2024 | Charged with two murders; Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court | Independent 15 Jul 2024; Bristol Post 24 Oct 2025 |
| 17 Jul 2024 | Old Bailey hearing by video link from Belmarsh; trial provisionally set for 14 Apr 2025 | Independent 17 Jul 2024 |
| 29 Apr 2025 | Admits manslaughter of Mr Alfonso; prosecution does not accept the plea | Bristol Post 30 Apr 2025 |
| 30 Apr 2025 | First trial opens at the Old Bailey | BBC 30 Apr & 15 May 2025 |
| 15 May 2025 | Jury discharged over problems with laptop search timings | BBC 15 May 2025; Standard 15 May 2025 |
| c. 30 Jun to 1 Jul 2025 | Retrial opens at Woolwich Crown Court | BBC 15 May & 26 Jul 2025; Independent 1 Jul 2025 |
| 11 Jul 2025 | Mosquera gives evidence | Independent 11 Jul 2025; Bristol Post 11 Jul 2025 |
| 14 to 15 Jul 2025 | Cross-examination | BBC 14 & 15 Jul 2025; Independent 15 Jul 2025 |
| 21 Jul 2025 (Mon) | Unanimous guilty verdicts after just over five hours | CPS; BBC; Bristol Post 24 Oct 2025 |
| 24 Oct 2025 | Indecent images pleas and sentence; murder sentence | Sentencing remarks; BBC live 24 Oct 2025 |
Background: how the three men knew each other
File 04
The court heard that Mr Alfonso met Mosquera through webcam sex websites in about 2012. By 2017 Mr Alfonso was paying him for sexual videos, which the BBC reports became more extreme over time. Mr Alfonso also paid another man, known in court as “James Smith”, for acts of sexual domination that were often filmed and posted online. Smith said he had known the couple for about 18 years. His account of the start of that relationship was, in the prosecutor’s words, “undoubtedly troubling”: he recalled getting drunk, being told the next morning that they had had sex and that Mr Alfonso had filmed it, and agreeing to sexual “favours” so the video would not be shown. Over time, Smith said, both men became “like family to him”. He described the couple’s relationship as “mint” and said Mr Alfonso “adored Paul and Paul was everything to him”. (Independent, 1 and 21 July 2025; BBC, 30 April 2025.)
Mosquera first came to London in October 2023, with Mr Alfonso paying. He met Smith on that trip and joined a session with him and Mr Alfonso. Smith said Mosquera “seemed friendly” and told him that, “like him, he was also doing it for the money.” In March 2024 the couple holidayed in Colombia, and Mosquera spent time with them at their expense. Paul Greenwood received WhatsApp photographs from that trip showing Mr Longworth, Mr Alfonso and a third man on a boat. When he asked who the man was, Mr Longworth “looked down and shrugged”. (Independent, 1 and 21 July 2025; PA via KentOnline, 6 May 2025.)
Mosquera returned to London in June 2024. Mr Alfonso arranged a guest membership at his gym, added him to the staff five-a-side football WhatsApp group and enrolled him on a four-week English course. The three went to Brighton for the day, where Mosquera was filmed on a zip wire. The judge found the relationship “transactional in that he paid you, but it was legal and consensual,” and that Mosquera “began to research the value of the flat which Albert Alfonso owned.” (BBC live; sentencing remarks.)
The killing of Paul Longworth
File 05
Mr Alfonso left early on 8 July for a shift at the gym. CCTV and his employment records put him at work when Mr Longworth was killed, and the CPS said that was the evidence that made Mosquera’s version “simply impossible”. (CPS; Independent, 1 July 2025.)
That morning Mosquera’s laptop was used to search, in Spanish, “where on the head is a knock fatal?”, including on YouTube. Earlier searches had included “hammer killer”. CCTV images showed Mr Longworth alive at the flat window, chatting to a neighbour, while the searches were being made. In cross-examination Mosquera agreed he “must have” made the “hammer killer” search. Asked why he would search “where on the head is a knock fatal?” while Mr Longworth was alive, he said: “no reason.” (CPS; Independent, 15 July 2025; BBC, 15 July 2025.)
The prosecution put it to him: “You closed the curtains at 12.30pm and open them at 1pm. I suggest that this is the time you took a hammer and hit Paul Longworth. You approached him from behind and you hit him on the head with the hammer. You did so repeatedly.” He answered: “No.” A white plastic bag with flaky, dried blood inside it carried Mr Longworth’s DNA. Asked whether he had put it over Mr Longworth’s head, he said no. The judge was sure of the attack and found Mosquera “probably” used the bag: “You probably placed a plastic bag over his head before, I am sure, delivering a series of savage blows with a hammer.” (Independent, 15 July 2025; sentencing remarks.)
Wounds and cause of death. The prosecution told the jury that Mr Longworth “had been attacked with a hammer to the back of his head, suffering repeated blows, which shattered his skull,” and that “none of that is in dispute.” Reports of the pathologist’s evidence at the first trial say she found at least 10 hammer blows, in a pattern “in keeping with the forceful use of a hammer”. His hands had injuries “consistent with defence-type injuries”, which suggests he tried to protect himself. At sentence, the prosecution said the pathologist could not say exactly how many blows there were. One sentencing report gives the cause of death as a fractured skull. (MyLondon, 1 May 2025; PA via KentOnline, 6 May 2025; Mirror, 24 October 2025.) Published counts vary; see “What the record says vs. what was reported”.
Mosquera hid the body in the storage space of a divan bed. The judge said he “no doubt made some basic efforts to clean up before Albert Alfonso came home from work.” Police later found blood under the bed and a hammer stained with Mr Longworth’s blood. Later that evening the laptop was used to look up how long a corpse takes to start decomposing, and to open his boarding pass for a return flight to Colombia. (CPS; BBC live; sentencing remarks.)
The killing of Albert Alfonso
File 06
Mr Alfonso came home from work. By Mosquera’s own account, the two men went out that evening to buy beer. At about 10pm to 10.15pm in his bedroom, they began a sex session “as you had done before”, in the judge’s words. Mr Alfonso habitually recorded these sessions on four cameras. He was wearing a white swimming cap and a black leather eye mask. A knife was hidden under cloth on a nearby table. (Sentencing remarks; BBC, 26 July 2025; CPS; Independent, 11 July 2025.)
The prosecution described the footage to the jury. Mosquera “takes hold of Mr Alfonso’s chin with his left hand and pulls Mr Alfonso’s head back, and then with his right hand, in which he is holding the knife, he stabs him.” He “inserts it quite deliberately and quite precisely into Mr Alfonso’s neck.” Mr Alfonso got to his feet and tried to defend himself. The two men, both naked, fell to the floor, and Mosquera held him in a headlock. Mosquera is heard saying in English, “Do you like it?” PC Nick Swire, the CCTV officer, said: “You can see Mosquera apply a knife to Mr Alfonso and blood is seen to flow down his chest… This is the start of the frenzied stabbing to the torso and the chest.” Screaming can be heard. PC Swire said a change in breathing marks the moment Mr Alfonso’s “body goes limp and he loses consciousness”, and that the footage ends with “significant blood flowing from the neck area to the floor.” (MyLondon, 1 May 2025; Independent, 1 July 2025.)
The judge’s finding: “When he was kneeling you took the knife you had hidden nearby and very deliberately cut his throat… He put up some resistance but he was caught unawares by a younger, stronger man, and you were able to cut his throat and push his body to the floor. You then danced with pleasure at what you had accomplished.” The video then shows Mosquera singing a song in Spanish and dancing before he sits down at the computer. The prosecution said: “What is striking… is just how calm and in control the defendant remains throughout.” The prosecution also said Mr Alfonso had been sniffing from a bottle during the session, possibly poppers. (Sentencing remarks; MyLondon; Independent, 1 July 2025; PA via KentOnline.)
Wounds. The pathologist found 13 stab wounds to the torso, one of which penetrated the left lung. They were consistent with small kitchen knives such as paring knives. There were further wounds to the face and neck, and defence-type injuries to the hands. A sentencing report puts the total at 22 wounds, including defence wounds. (PA via KentOnline; BBC, 15 July 2025; Mirror, 24 October 2025.)
The video was first played to the jury without sound, then with it. During the first trial a juror asked to be discharged after watching it, which left 11 jurors. The second jury saw it three times in the first three days. (BBC, 26 July 2025; MyLondon.)
The money
File 07
The CPS said that “with Mr Alfonso lying dead or dying at his feet, Mosquera immediately accessed his computer and mobile phone.” On 27 June he had copied spreadsheets of Mr Alfonso’s bank details, usernames, IDs and passwords onto his own laptop. The prosecution said these covered Barclays, Halifax, NatWest, MoneyGram and PayPal accounts. After the killing he compiled a PowerPoint document of the couple’s banking information and tried to send £4,000 to his own account in Colombia, which failed. In the early hours he took Mr Alfonso’s bank card to a cashpoint. In total he withdrew at least £900 from Mr Alfonso’s accounts before the transactions started being declined. He told the jury that Mr Alfonso had promised him the money for travel to Brighton. Searches, including one on the morning of the killings, showed the value of the flat. He said he had looked “out of curiosity like always”. (CPS; BBC, 30 April and 14 July 2025; MyLondon.)
The dismemberment and the freezer
File 08
The next morning a message from Mr Alfonso’s phone told his manager he was flying to Costa Rica for a family emergency and would be away about eight weeks. Mosquera bought a chest freezer and had it delivered. The judge said he also “went out to a bar and arranged to go out again the following weekend.” (BBC, 30 April 2025; sentencing remarks.)
The judge found that he “chopped them up, removing their heads, legs and, in Mr Longworth’s case, his hands.” The prosecution’s account of what police found:
- Silver trunk: Mr Longworth’s torso “with attached arms and two detached legs… His head, hands and feet had been removed.”
- Red suitcase: Mr Alfonso’s torso “with attached arms and hands and two detached legs with attached feet… His head had been removed.” An Arsenal FC towel was packed with his remains.
- Chest freezer in the flat: both heads and the remaining body parts. Mr Alfonso’s head still wore the swimming cap and leather eye mask.
The pathologist said both bodies were cut with the same tools. The prosecution said: “This evidence is consistent with both bodies being dismembered by the same person using the same tools. The prosecution says that person was the defendant.” Mosquera told the jury he had seen Mr Longworth’s dismembered body “and decided to copy it”. He also said he left the heads in a freezer that was not switched on, because Mr Longworth’s head “was already not smelling very good”. (Bristol Post, 30 April 2025; PA via KentOnline; Independent, 11 and 15 July 2025.)
Form 12-P · Woolwich Crown Court · 2025
Pathologist’s Evidence Sheet
Points from the pathologist’s evidence at the retrial, as reported.
Lab · toxicology
- Poppers
- The prosecutor said Mr Alfonso appeared to have been inhaling “poppers” around the time of his death. Dr Deborah Cook told the jury “it is not possible to say whether they were present or not.” [BBC]
London to Bristol
File 09
Mosquera first booked a van to Brighton, then changed the destination. On 10 July a neighbour heard “a very loud noise in the stairwell… like someone was dragging a heavy object step by step.” She found a man standing over a large dark case with silver edging, “like a big magician’s trunk”. She said he looked “startled… like he had been caught”. He refused her offer of help and said sorry. She recognised him days later from the news. She also told the jury that a few days before the killings she had heard raised voices in the flat for the first time, and that neither voice was Mr Longworth’s. (Metro, 3 May 2025.)
The van driver, Julian Romero, was not told what the luggage held. He drove Mosquera along the M4 and dropped him near The Mall pub in Clifton at about 10.30pm, as fans spilled out after England’s late winner against the Netherlands put them into the Euro 2024 final. Roger Malone, 92, saw “a tall man in black clothing and a hat covering his face” struggling with the cases. His son Giles joked: “What have you got in there? A body?” Roger recalled: “Of course there was a deathly hush… The guy didn’t reply.” Jason Yearsley and Clare Webster offered to help. Using Google Translate, Mosquera told them his name was Juan and that the cases held mechanical parts and oil for a client. The cases were too heavy for their car, so a taxi took him the 0.2 miles to the bridge. When the driver dropped him in a layby on the far side of the bridge, red liquid was leaking. Mosquera said it was oil and wiped it away. (BBC live; BBC, 21 July 2025; Bristol Post, 30 April 2025.)
On the bridge
File 10
Night of 10 July · from this file
Mosquera left the silver trunk in the layby and dragged the red case to the bridge wall. CCTV shows him peering over, trying and failing to lift the case, rubbing at the stain with his foot and then urinating on it. Two bridge staff approached; he said he was waiting for a friend. Douglas Cunningham, who thought he was a lost tourist, stopped and spoke to him in Spanish. Cunningham’s statement to the court: “He said he was from Colombia and he was trying to find a hotel. I asked him if the bridge staff could open the suitcase and he said ‘no’.” He told Cunningham the cases held car parts. When staff shone torches on the cases and more red liquid showed, Mosquera said he was going to fetch the other case, walked past it and ran. Cunningham chased him and filmed him, and Mosquera tried to knock the phone away. He disappeared down Burwalls Road. A 999 caller told police, “There’s blood coming out of the suitcases.” Officers arrived within 10 minutes. (Metro; MyLondon; Bristol Post, 30 April 2025; BBC, 21 July 2025; BBC, 13 July 2024.)
The judge called it “a hopeless endeavour as the bridge has CCTV, security staff, and a high wire fence along its length: Being an incompetent criminal, however, does not count as mitigation.” He found Mosquera’s aim was to throw “their torsos and severed limbs into the river Avon.” (Sentencing remarks.)
The investigation and the hunt
File 11
Det Insp Meade said: “At the time we knew that we had bodies that had been cut up. That’s really rare.” The luggage tag led the Met to the flat, where officers found “blood in every room”, a bloodstained hammer in the hallway, the freezer blocking the bathroom, and the bedroom cameras holding recordings of many sessions, including the killing. When an officer first watched it, Det Ch Insp Stride recalled, “he was white as a sheet.” Once the remains were linked to the flat, the Met took over the investigation from Avon and Somerset. (BBC, 21 July 2025; BBC, 13 July 2024.)
A tip about a “dusty red van” was the break. “If it had been a white van, I think we’d have been a long way away from finding it early,” Meade said. Police found the van on the M32 about to join the M4, followed it back to London, and got Mosquera’s phone number from the driver. The phone had been live in Bristol until the early hours of 11 July, then went dark. Helicopters, drones and dog units searched the city, and airports and ferry ports were alerted. Before the arrest, the Met publicly named Yostin Andres Mosquera as the man it wanted to speak to. Shortly after midnight on 12 to 13 July the phone came back on. A surveillance team tracked him through Hotwells, where CCTV showed him passing a pizza takeaway wearing one shoe. At about 2.15am armed Avon and Somerset officers found him on a bench outside Temple Meads. Bodycam shows him restrained on the ground; he gave his name as “Jot Mosquera”. In interview he made no comment to all questions about the killings. (BBC, 21 July 2025; BBC live, 21 July 2025; BBC, 13 July 2024; Independent, 17 July 2024.)
The Met said the evidence did not point to a homophobic motive, but the case was classified as a hate crime under national guidelines. It worked with the pan-London LGBTQ+ Independent Advisory Group. DAC Valentine said: “We do not believe either of them had any close family”; other next of kin were informed. (Independent, 15 July 2024.)
Digital and forensic evidence
File 12
- Laptop searches. Many were in Spanish or through Google Translate, made while Mosquera was alone in the flat. They covered chest, deep, indoor and outdoor freezers and delivery options, Facebook Marketplace freezers, “hammer killer”, “where on the head is a knock fatal?”, poisons, Jack the Ripper, corpse decomposition and the value of the flat. Mosquera said many of the searches came from existing browser history. (Independent, 15 July 2025; Bristol Post, 11 July 2025; Standard, 21 July 2025; CPS.)
- The clock fault. Digital examiners found the laptop recorded time incorrectly. Problems fixing the exact times of searches led the judge to discharge the first jury on 15 May 2025, saying the trial “simply cannot continue… We simply have to resolve this before we have a fair trial.” (Independent, 1 July 2025; BBC, 15 May 2025.)
- Bedroom video. Four cameras recorded the killing. Officers “consumed hundreds of hours of footage.”
- CCTV. Street cameras near the flat (curtains, Mr Longworth at the window) and bridge cameras (from about 11.23pm).
- Forensics. DNA on the plastic bag, the bloodstained hammer, blood under the divan, and same-tool dismemberment.
- Financial records. The spreadsheets, the PowerPoint, the failed £4,000 transfer and the cash withdrawals.
The defence case
File 13
Mosquera gave evidence through an interpreter, wearing a white shirt, jeans and rosary beads. He said Mr Alfonso became “100% different” on the 2024 visit, calling him “negro”, “slave”, “idiot” and “stupid” every day, making him sleep on the bedroom floor, taking his keys and threatening to have his family in Colombia killed through “friends in Cali”. He said Mr Alfonso changed his return flight without warning, causing him to miss an exam on 7 July. He said he felt “humiliated, sad and trapped”, but never angry. He claimed he was “raped every day”. The prosecution pointed out that his “detailed” defence statement contained no mention of rape. (Bristol Post, 11 July 2025; Independent, 11 July 2025; BBC, 14 July 2025.)
His account of 8 July: Mr Alfonso came home at about 2.15pm and argued with Mr Longworth in the bathroom. He then put on a black bathrobe and thin gloves, went into Mr Longworth’s room, and Mosquera heard “a loud thud”. That night Mr Alfonso said on his computer, in Spanish, “I won’t leave any traces or any witnesses.” “I thought my head was going to blow up like a balloon. I could hear the blood flowing through my body. I could hear a constant beep… After that, I woke up in Bristol.” He said he chose Bristol because it was alphabetically close to Brighton, which Mr Alfonso had once joked was “where you’re going to throw Paul”. He said he did not remember singing. (Independent, 11 July 2025.)
In cross-examination Ms Heer said: “All the things that you cannot remember are the things that prove you are guilty. So you have found a way to simply not answer the questions.” She listed the lies about the contents of the cases told to the couple at the pub, the taxi driver, the cyclist and the bridge staff. (Independent, 15 July 2025.)
Closing speeches and verdict
File 14
The prosecution closed: “While Albert Alfonso was in it for the sex, Mosquera was in it for the money… He killed both Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso having planned to do so, intending to do so in order to steal from them.” Mr Alfonso’s sex life with Smith may be “troubling”, Ms Heer said, but “he was not a killer.” Tom Little KC for the defence argued that Mr Alfonso had been capable of grooming and blackmail. (Independent, 21 July 2025.) No reporting of the judge’s summing-up beyond his warnings about the video was found.
On Monday 21 July 2025, after just over five hours, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both counts. The judge told jurors: “We put serious demands on jurors, in this case more than most… They were terrible, brutal events and to read about it is a dreadful thing, but to see it is really shocking.” He ordered a psychiatric report. (CPS; BBC, 21 July 2025.)
Sentencing, 24 October 2025
File 15
Indecent images. That morning Mosquera pleaded guilty to possessing about 1,500 category A, 750 category B and 4,000 category C images, found on the laptop he brought from Colombia. The judge said they showed “very young children being subjected to a variety of sexual abuse really of horrifying detail and nature” and that Mosquera was “actively involved in a network sharing indecent images of children”. The sentences were 16 months, 4 months and 2 months, all concurrent. (Guardian; Bristol Post live; Mirror.)
Submissions. The prosecution argued that Mosquera “planned in advance to kill both of the victims in order to steal from them”, and that Mr Alfonso was “vulnerable and naked” and trusted him. It also reported that he “wasn’t suffering from any mental health disorder.” The defence said the relationship “was not one of equals”, argued there was “an element of grooming”, and said a whole life order was not merited. (Mirror; Bristol Post live.)
The judge’s reasoning (sentencing remarks):
- Starting points. Schedule 21 of the Sentencing Act 2020 gives a whole life order if each murder involved “a substantial degree of premeditation or planning” or “sexual or sadistic conduct”. It gives 30 years for murder for gain or of two people.
- Rejected, from the prosecution: “substantial” planning (he could not be sure the decision was made before early July, and the hammer and knife were already in the flat, so the planning was “significant” but not “substantial”); Mr Alfonso being “particularly vulnerable” (his posture cannot normally aggravate); and that the killing “involved sexual conduct” in the legal sense (the sex was their “regular way” and “does not make the crime worse”).
- Rejected, from the defence: grooming or coercive control. “You were already a sex worker when the two of you met.” His account of being a “virtual prisoner” was “manifestly untrue” given Smith’s evidence, his movements in London and the websites he had run in Colombia. The economic imbalance was “the reason you committed these murders” and was no mitigation.
- Starting point: 30 years, for gain.
- Aggravation: two victims (“an additional and extremely serious aggravating factor”); Mr Longworth’s age and poor health; significant planning; and “gross dismemberment”, leaving the heads in a freezer while trying to throw the torsos and limbs into the Avon.
- Those factors could have justified “a minimum term of approaching 50 years” or a whole life order.
- Mitigation: no previous convictions; and a psychiatric finding that Mosquera, by his own account, saw other children killed at school in Colombia at ages 10 and 14. Dr Estrada said this “may have shaped the way you view violence”, a “slight finding expressed in cautious terms”. The report found “no diagnosed mental state that amounts to mitigation”. Dr Chin noted self-centredness and lack of empathy matching the ICD definition of personality dysfunction.
- Result: a 42-year minimum, less 466 days on remand, gives 40 years 264 days on counts 1 and 2, concurrent.
The BBC reported he would be held at HMP Belmarsh. After sentence he shook his interpreter’s hand and smiled at the court as he was led down. There was no reaction from the public gallery. (BBC live, 24 October 2025.)
Tributes and statements
File 16
No victim personal statements from family were reported. The Met said the men had no close family. Tributes came through police and witnesses:
- Det Ch Insp Stride: “They were best friends… they were each other’s rocks, each other’s everything.” And: “The couple had opened their door to a man so evil he would take advantage of their lively spirit and generosity.”
- Paul Greenwood: Mr Alfonso was “quite a chatty and a welcoming person” who threw summer and Christmas parties for residents. Mr Longworth was “genuinely a jovial man who liked to stop and talk with the residents.” “I would say they had a symbiotic relationship.”
- The neighbour: the couple were “very good neighbours” and their relationship was “loving, supportive, harmonious and touching”.
- Det Insp Meade: “truly barbaric crimes which he had clearly planned in advance. He has shown a complete lack of remorse.”
- Miranda Jollie, CPS: “It was clear that Yostin Mosquera planned and calculated every action in the lead up to the killings.”
(Independent, 21 July 2025; Bristol Post, 24 October 2025; Metro; BBC live, 24 October 2025.)
What the record says vs. what was reported
File 17
| Point | Record (primary) | Reported | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of killings | Sentencing remarks paras 5 and 6: 8 July; CPS: 8 July | Remarks para 1: “11 July”; BBC sentencing article repeats “11 July”; charge and early reports: “between 8 and 10 July” or “on or before 11 July” | 8 July. The para 1 date appears to be a slip. The charge window was set before the facts were established. |
| Hammer blows | Remarks: “a series of savage blows” | “at least 10” (PA, pathologist, May 2025); “nine injuries” (BBC live); “up to 13 times” (PA/Independent, 21 Jul 2025); “13 blows” (BBC, 24 Oct 2025); pathologist “unable to say how many” (Mirror, sentencing) | No settled number. Use “repeated blows”. |
| Alfonso stab wounds | Remarks: throat cut | 13 torso wounds (pathologist, PA); 22 including defence wounds (Mirror) | Both counts are reported; neither is in the remarks. |
| Where the body was hidden | Remarks: “under his bed” | CPS and BBC: storage space of a divan bed | Consistent. |
| Day of verdict | CPS: 21 July 2025 (a Monday) | Standard: “on Tuesday” | Monday 21 July. |
| Minimum term | Remarks: 42 years less 466 days = 40y 264d | Bristol Post and Mirror headlines: “minimum of 42 years” | Both are right if explained; 40y 264d is the operative term. |
| Trial venue | Retrial and sentence at Woolwich | Some PA copy says “on trial at the Old Bailey” during the Woolwich retrial | The Old Bailey hosted the first, collapsed trial only. |
| Where he first met them | Court (BBC live): first UK visit Oct 2023 | Mosquera in evidence: met in person “in Colombia in 2022 and 2024” | The court evidence is preferred; his claim is attributed. |
| Relationship status | Remarks: “settled, affectionate couple” | BBC: split up but still lived together | Both are reported; the draft states both. |
Open questions
File 18
- Why Bristol. Neither force established a reason. His own account, alphabetical proximity to Brighton, was given in testimony the judge rejected wholesale.
- The exact number of hammer blows. See above.
- The judge’s summing-up. Not reported in the sources reviewed.
- Appeal. None found as of 13 October 2026.
- Power tool. One tabloid sentencing report says a knife and “a power tool” were used to dismember the bodies. It is not confirmed by a second source and is left out of the narrative.
Citations & Sources
Sources
- Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (Mr Justice Bennathan, 24 Oct 2025): R v Yostin Mosquera: Sentencing remarks
- Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (n/a, 24 Oct 2025): R v Yostin Mosquera (listing)
- CPS London North (CPS, 21 Jul 2025): Colombian porn actor guilty of double murder…
- BBC News (James W Kelly, Sammy Jenkins, 13 Jul 2024): Man arrested after human remains found in suitcases
- Bristol Post (Anita Merritt, 13 Jul 2024): Suspect arrested at Bristol Temple Meads…
- The Independent (PA) (Ellie Ng, 15 Jul 2024): Man appears in court… police rule out homophobic motive
- The Independent (PA) (Ellie Ng, 17 Jul 2024): Man accused… to face double murder trial in spring
- BBC News (Ellie Price (with PA), 30 Apr 2025): Man killed couple then froze remains, court hears
- Bristol Post (Alex Driscoll, 30 Apr 2025): Court hears how ‘killer’ dragged suitcases…
- MyLondon (Chris Ballinger, 1 May 2025): Suitcase murder trial jury watch in silence…
- Metro (Sam Corbishley, 3 May 2025): Woman unwittingly offered to help killer carry cases…
- PA via KentOnline (PA, 6 May 2025): Man’s remains were found in suitcase alongside Arsenal towel
- BBC News (Tess de la Mare, 15 May 2025): Trial of man accused of suitcase murders collapses
- The Standard (George Lithgow, Matt Watts, 15 May 2025): Suitcase remains trial collapses…
- The Independent (PA) (Jordan Reynolds, 1 Jul 2025): Man ‘dismembered couple, left some remains in freezer…’ (retrial opening)
- The Independent (PA) (Joe Hadden, 11 Jul 2025): Man accused of suitcase murders claims he feared for his life
- Bristol Post (PA) (Joe Hadden (PA), Jamie Hawkins, 11 Jul 2025): Man accused… claims he was blackmailed and racially abused
- BBC News (Bea Swallow, 14 Jul 2025): Murder accused claims he was ‘raped every day’
- BBC News (Bea Swallow, 15 Jul 2025): Murder accused searched for ‘fatal blows’ online
- The Independent (PA) (Helen William, 15 Jul 2025): Web searches on fatal blows and freezers…
- BBC News (Sarah Turnnidge, Beth Cruse, 21 Jul 2025): Man who dumped remains in suitcases guilty of murder
- BBC News (Turnnidge, Cruse (ed. Briana Millett), 21 Jul 2025): Man guilty of murdering two men… live
- BBC News (Leigh Boobyer, Emma Hallett, 21 Jul 2025): Suitcase killer ‘could have staged perfect murder’
- The Independent (PA) (Helen William, 21 Jul 2025): Couple killed in suitcase murders were ‘each other’s everything’
- The Standard (Tristan Kirk, 21 Jul 2025): Colombian man found guilty of murdering London couple…
- BBC News (Fiona Lamdin, Adam Crowther, 26 Jul 2025): ‘Murdered on camera – the video that shocked two juries’
- BBC News (Leigh Boobyer, 24 Oct 2025): Suitcase murderer jailed for at least 40 years
- BBC News (ed. Emma Grimshaw; Boobyer, Turnnidge, Lamdin, Robinson, 24 Oct 2025): Murderer… jailed for at least 40 years (live)
- The Guardian (Matthew Weaver, 24 Oct 2025): Murderer who dumped couple’s remains… jailed
- Bristol Post (Alex Driscoll, Sarah Lumley, 24 Oct 2025): Clifton Suspension Bridge suitcase killer sentenced (live)
- Bristol Post (Alex Driscoll, 24 Oct 2025): ‘One of the most harrowing murders’ – police statements
- The Mirror (Patrick Hill, 24 Oct 2025): Bodies in suitcases killer… gets life
- BBC News (2025): Clifton Suspension Bridge suitcase murders trial, pathologist’s evidence: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1jwznepw80o
- PA via Perspective Media: Man’s remains were found in suitcase alongside Arsenal towel, court hears: https://www.perspectivemedia.com/mans-remains-were-found-in-suitcase-alongside-arsenal-towel-court-hears/
Image credits
- Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol. Photo: Gothick, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- Route map, bridge sequence, sentence arithmetic and evidence tags: original TDSH graphics built from the reporting and remarks cited above.
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