Kirill Belorusov who is on trial at the Old Bailey, London, for the murder of Laureline Garcia-Bertaux in Kew, south-west London in November 2018
A stuntman accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend and burying her in a flowerbed giggled as his texts asking her for ‘nudie’ photos were read out in court.
Kirill Belorusov, 32, allegedly throttled French film producer Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, with a ligature before binding her feet and hands behind her back.
Belorusov then wrapped her corpse in bin bags before burying her beneath a thin coating of soil in the garden of her flat in Darell Road, Kew, southwest London, it is said.
The Estonian had correctly guessed her WiFi password to be his own name, ‘kirillbelorusov1’ when using it to watch pornography just hours after the murder, the Old Bailey heard.
Giving evidence today, Belorusov admitted he was a ‘monster’ and had emotionally ‘waterboarded’ Ms Garcia-Bertaux for over a year while claiming he was dying of cancer.
Oliver Glasgow, QC, prosecuting, asked Belorusov, the son of an Estonian police officer: ‘Why tell people who care about you all these lies about your cancer treatment?’
He replied; ‘Probably because I’m cruel or mean or maybe I wanted to hurt her.’
Kirill Belorusov (left) has been charged with murder over the death of Laureline Garcia-Bertaux (right)
Laureline was reported missing after she did not arrive for work at a public relations firm
Belorusov said he had been emotionally ‘waterboarding’ the victim, pestering his ex-girlfriend for ‘nudies’ throughout 2018 despite calling her ‘fat’ and dating another woman at the same time, jurors heard.
‘Waterboarding is a technique of torture is it? What does it mean to you?’ Mr Glasgow asked.
The Estonian replied: ‘Just mental nagging, I guess.
‘I don’t think she’s in a position to argue or be unhappy because I gave her money.’
Belorusov laughed as texts sent from him to the victim were read to the court.
‘Will it be possible for some nudies to keep me motivated and happy until Friday?’ one read.
‘I wanna see all of you, please be kinky.
‘Me want booby and you naked and pretty. I miss your soft curvy self.’
Handout CCTV footage of Kirill Belorusov dated March 3 2019 (left) in a Homebase store after he allegedly killed the victim. Three days later he is in Luton airport (right) where he took a flight to his home country Estonia
In the Homebase store Kirill Belorusov bought an axe, rubber clogs, rubble sacks and compost after he allegedly killed the victim
Asked why he sent the messages, Belorusov revealed that it had been to ‘poke and annoy’ her.
‘I was just trying to poke and wind her up say something she didn’t really like,’ said Belorusov.
‘That’s the kind of talk she never really likes.
‘I was asking her for something I thought would annoy her,’ he said.
‘In the first year of our relationship [I got] about 50gb (gigabytes) of nudies and sex tapes, I didn’t need anything extra.’
Mr Glasgow asked: ‘There are lots of messages calling her beautiful. Why would you say that about someone you had no romantic interest in?’
Belorusov, who denies murdering Ms Garcia-Bertaux, replied: ‘Did you want me to be honest and call her overweight and fat?
Kirill Belorusov has been charged with murder over the death of Laureline Garcia-Bertaux
‘I started 50 diets with her, I decided to jog with her, run with her go to the gym with her.
‘She gained 25kg and her friends were telling her how full of life she is. No, she wasn’t. She was stress eating and none of her friends were telling her that that was a problem.’
Mr Glasgow said: ‘These are messages you’re sending to someone you not interested in, that you’re trying to teach a lesson in your own words. Do you think she might have got the wrong end of the stick?’
Belorusov replied: ‘Yes maybe. But we spoke to each other like this.’
Miss Garcia-Bertaux’s body was found in the back garden of a semi-detached house in Kew
Phone tracking data shown to the court locates Belorusov at the victim’s house throughout 3 March – the day of the murder and also of his 32nd birthday.
Belorusov had arranged to celebrate with his new girlfriend, but said he felt too ‘lazy’ to travel to her Kilburn flat.
He claimed he sat on a park bench at the end of Ms Garcia-Bertaux’s road eating pork scratchings and drinking beer until 7.30am the next day.
Police officers search the front garden of the Kew home where Ms Garcia-Bertaux was found
Belorusov said he spent the evening smoking and sporadically walking back to the filmmaker’s flat because he was ‘curious’ about her progress moving house.
‘I got to the park and I saw a bench and I just couldn’t resist sitting on it,’ Belorusov told jurors.
‘I went back to Laureline’s place just to see how she’s doing.
Pictured: The incident tent police erected over the shallow grave in which the French TV producer’s naked body was found
‘I guess I was curious about the progress on what was happening inside because I left in a hurry I would say.
‘I was at her doorstep maybe five, six, seven, times that day.
‘I can’t really give you a direct answer [why]. I just didn’t wanna leave. I was just too lazy to go to the station.’
Martin Rutherford QC, defending, asked Belorusov: ‘Finally, did you kill Ms Garcia-Bertaux?’
He replied: ‘Absolutely not.
‘I have never raised a hand, never raised a finger to that girl in my life.
‘I left and never re-entered the property [on 3 March].
‘I was on the doorstep many times but I have never re-entered the property.’
Belorusov, of no fixed address, denies murder.
The trial continues.