Stefano Brizzi, 50, was serving a minimum of 24 years in prison for the murder of PC Gordon Semple, 59, during a drug-fuelled sadomasochistic sex session in London
A cannibal police killer hanged himself in prison less than three months into a life sentence after being taken off suicide watch, a hearing was told today.
Stefano Brizzi, 50, was serving a minimum of 24 years in prison for the murder of PC Gordon Semple, 59, during a drug-fuelled sadomasochistic sex session in London.
But the Italian national was found hanged in his cell on February 5 this year, just weeks after he was sentenced, a pre-inquest review hearing was told.
The satanist killer, who chopped up his victim’s body and dissolved parts in acid before cooking and eating some of the remains, had been placed on suicide watch just days before his sentence after a judge raised concerns.
Today’s hearing at Southwark Coroner’s Court was told Breaking Bad fan Brizzi had made a noose at maximum security Belmarsh jail in south east London last December, about a week before a jury convicted him of murder.
Documents were also found in Brizzi’s cell ‘indicating he was planning or thinking about his death’, according to Senior Coroner Doctor Andrew Harris.
He said: ‘There is a statement that related to the management of information found in his cell indicating he was planning or thinking about his death.’
Dr Harris said Brizzi was found hanging in his prison cell at about 10am.
CCTV of Stefano Brizzi purchasing items at the Leyland Store in Southwark Street, London, before he killed and dissolved the police officer
He said: ‘After resuscitation, life was pronounced extinct at 10.10am. He was a Category A prisoner on remand.
‘He was on suicide watch on December 6 when he made a noose. There were no other injuries to suggest he had recently been involved in an altercation with another party and the analysis which includes toxicology was negative.’
The Coroner said a jury inquest, scheduled for April, will look at issues including Brizzi being put on a suicide prevention Assessment, Care in Custody & Teamwork (ACCT) in jail, which is a process for prisoners considered ‘at risk’.
Dr Harris said: ‘We need to understand the opening of the ACCT and the care plan.’
The satanist killer chopped up Mr Semple, pictured, and dissolved parts of his bod in acid before cooking and eating some of the remains
It will also look at his risk of suicide and any mental health issues including depression.
The Coroner said: ‘These are my suggested key issues.’
He added: ‘Given the nature of his crime we need to understand the general picture, but whether he was assessed as a violent prisoner and whether there was any evidence he had suffered in some way from other prisoners.’
The judge who sentenced Brizzi, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, had raised concerns about the killer’s mental health and asked prison officers to keep an eye on him.
Mr Harris told the hearing: ‘The judge was concerned about his health during the course of the trial and seeking a guarantee that he is monitored.’
Brizzi had been placed on suicide watch in prison on December 6, but was then taken off it on January 4, the Coroner said.
He said the inquest will look at ‘what was his considered risk on January 4 when suicide watch ceased’.
A five day inquest in front of a jury was scheduled to begin on April 23 next year at Southwark Coroners Court.
Brizzi killed PC Semple after they took crystal meth and played a sex game which involved a leather-clad Brizzi sitting on the officer’s face and tightening a leash around his neck.
Brizzi, a former web developer for the bank Morgan Stanley, had denied murder during his trial at the Old Bailey but he was found guilty by a jury.
The Italian national, who met PC Semple on the gay dating app Grindr, was jailed for life in December with a minimum of 24 years.
Sentencing him, Judge Hilliard QC, the Recorder of London, had said: ‘Your attempts to conceal what happened, and dismember and destroy his body, are terrible features of the case.’
Brizzi had tried to cook and eat the body parts, with PC Semple’s DNA found on chopsticks, in a cooking pot and in his oven.
A human bite mark was also discovered on one of the officer’s ribs, which matched Brizzi’s teeth, despite the killer’s claim he only heated the body to help get rid of it.
The judge had said: ‘You had been an enthusiastic participant since 2013 of what is called the chemsex scene.
‘As a result, I am entirely confident that nothing that happened between you and Mr Semple would have shocked you or taken you by surprise.
‘I have no doubt, as I said, that there came a time when you went beyond what you had agreed, and you intended to cause him really serious harm. I am sure the facial injuries were deliberately inflicted by you.’
He said Brizzi had not tried to call the emergency services, adding: ‘Your thoughts were for yourself and whether you could get away with it. That is the reason – not panic of any kind.’
Brizzi had admitted during the trial his use of acid was ‘inspired’ by an episode of the hit U.S. TV show Breaking Bad, when main character Walter White dissolves a rival in acid.
Brizzi’s trial heard how his once successful life spiralled out of control after he became addicted to crystal meth.
He relocated to the UK in 2012 after being offered a £70,000-a-year job with the investment bank.
The Italian killer had a loving childhood in a devout Catholic family but came to believe he was ‘from Satan’ because of his homosexuality and his subsequent rejection of his parents’ religion.
Brizzi had been diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C in Italy in 2008, which he came to consider ‘a death sentence’.
PC Semple, originally from Inverness in Scotland, was attached to a Westminster Council anti-social behaviour unit.
He was last seen leaving London’s Shard at 12.30pm on 1 April after a meeting at the five-star Shangri-La hotel on his way to meet his killer for sex while he was still on duty.
The officer was reported missing the following day by his partner of 25 years, Gary Meeks, who had lived with him in Greenhithe in Kent for 25 years.
Following a massive manhunt, police were alerted to a ‘smell of death’ coming from Brizzi’s flat on the Peabody Trust Estate in Borough, southeast London, on 7 April.
Brizzi answered his door wearing nothing but a pair of pink underpants and aviator shades and quickly announced: ‘I’ve tried to dissolve the body – I’ve killed a police officer.’
He added: ‘I killed him last week. I met him on Grindr and I killed him. Satan told me to.’