Murder accused ‘hid lover’s body in car boot for three days’

Tuesday 05 March 2019

The body of 37-year old hotel worker was hidden for three days in the boot of her car in a public car park before being dumped on a beach at low tide, it was alleged in a murder trial that got underway today.

Opening the Royal Court case against Jamie Lee Warn (55), who denies Zsuzsanna Besenyei’s murder, Advocate Simon Thomas told the jury that the defendant was involved in a secret sexual relationship with Miss Besenyei.

The prosecution claim that after killing her, Mr Warn embarked on an elaborate cover-up, driving her car on to the beach at St. Aubin to make it look as if she had committed suicide.

“The Crown is unable to tell how and where she died but what is beyond doubt is that she did die and that the defendant killed her,” Advocate Thomas told the jury.

Pictured: Mr Warn entering the Royal Court on a previous occasion.

Miss Besenyei, a Hungarian national, came to Jersey in 2011 and met the defendant when the two worked at Les Charrieres Hotel in St Peter.

The prosecution say that Miss Besenyei was attacked, and subsequently died, in a 50-minute period on the evening of Thursday 10 May after she had visited the defendant’s home at First Tower. Her body was not discovered until the following Wednesday on the beach at Le Pulec, near L’Etacq.

Although the time of the alleged attack could not be pinpointed, Advocate Thomas told the jury that it took place between the time Miss Besenyei sent a text to a former partner at 19:30 on the Thursday and 20:20 that evening when security camera images showed Mr Warn buying hand-sanitising gel from a nearby convenience store.   

The following morning, the Crown claims that Mr Warn parked Miss Besenyei’s car at the public carpark at First Tower with her body concealed in the boot. Advocate Thomas told the jury that the defendant then took steps to cover up his crime by sending fake messages between his own mobile phone and Miss Besenyei’s to make it appear that she was still alive. 

Much of the evidence outlined by the prosecution concerned telephone and internet records which showed calls and emails between the defendant and Miss Besenyei in the days leading to her disappearance. 

Pictured: The trial is being held at the Royal Court.

The jury heard that cell-site data – records of the connections made between mobile phones and the network of phone masts across the Island – helped track the location of the phones as they were used. 

Advocate Thomas told the jury that this data showed that Miss Besenyei’s phone remained in the First Tower area throughout the day on Friday 11May when she failed to attend successive appointments she had made with her hairdresser and beautician.

He said that a combination of cell-site data and security camera footage then established that the phone, which has never been recovered, was in Mr Warn’s possession in St. Helier on Saturday 12 May when there was an exchange of text messages with his own mobile phone. 

Meanwhile, data records showed that the defendant had used his own phone for a series of internet searches – for tide times, the weather forecast, how to turn off the location of an iPhone and sprays for cleaning up excrement. “Why was it,” Advocate Thomas asked rhetorically, “that the defendant had tide times on his mind?” 

Earlier, the jury was told of a relationship break-up between Miss Besenyei and another man, and of an exchange of texts showing that she was expecting money from Mr Warn.  

Pictured: Miss Besenyei, who Mr Warn is alleged to have murdered.

The prosecution suggested that these exchanges showed that Miss Besenyei was short of cash and capable of becoming angry. The defendant’s failure to provide the money could have precipitated the attack in which she died, they alleged.

However, Advocate Thomas acknowledged that the Crown’s case was based on circumstantial evidence which the jury would need to piece together in order to come to a conclusion about the death of Zsuzssana Besenyei 

“There is only one person in this court who knows what happened to Miss Besenyei and that is the defendant; there is only one person who knows why and that is the defendant,” Advocate Thomas said. 

The Crown’s opening case against Jamie Lee Warn was adjourned to allow the jury to visit key sites involved in the case including the beach where Miss Besenyei’s body was discovered, the carpark at First Tower, the defendant’s flat and the nearby Checkers convenience store. 

Having returned from the site viewings, the jury were shown CCTV footage which the prosecution said showed Mr Warn driving Miss Besenyei’s car – while her body was in the boot – from First Tower carpark to Le Pulec near L’Etacq. His movements could be traced by the cell-site data of his mobile phone which at one point at the north-eastern extremity of the island connected with a mast in Guernsey.

Pictured: Advocate Simon Thomas appeared for the prosecution.

Advocate Thomas described how a combination of cell-site data and CCTV then showed the vehicle returning to St Aubin to be driven 500 yards down the beach where it would be covered by the incoming tide.

The prosecution’s case is that Mr Warn subsequently lied to the Police about the nature of his relationship with Miss Besenyei and about text messages which he claimed she sent him over the weekend following her disappearance. He admitted receiving explicit images from Miss Besenyei, but denied being involved in full sexual relationship with her.

Mr Warn claimed that he was “her shoulder to cry on, her rock”, and tried to direct Police attention to her former partner. However, on 25 May, Mr Warn was arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Miss Besenyei’s body was examined by Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney, who was unable to determine the cause of her death because of the decomposition of her body. The jury heard, however, that marks on her body were consistent with the body having been placed in the boot of a car after death.

Following completion of the opening, the prosecution will call its first witnesses in a trial which is expected to last two weeks.

Pictured top: Miss Besenyei's car, which was found by Police on a beach.