Woman 'killed, dismembered and buried her partner'

A woman who was missing for 15 years was killed by her partner and buried in the back garden of their home, a court has heard.

Anna Podedworna, 40, denies the murder of Izabela Zablocka, who was 30 when she was reported missing in 2010, after moving from her native Poland to Derby.

Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC told Derby Crown Court the two women had moved to the UK together and lived in Normanton.

Zablocka's body was discovered on 1 June 2025, buried in the garden of a house in Princes Street, where the pair had been living, after Podedworna emailed Derbyshire Police to tell them her body could be found there, the jury heard.

Aspden told the court Zablocka was born and brought up in Trzebiatow, a small town in north-west Poland.

He said Zablocka married a local man in her early 20s and had a daughter, but "the marriage did not last", and soon after the couple separated, Zablocka "began a sexual relationship with this defendant".

"They had little money, and so in 2009 they travelled to the UK in search of work," Aspden added.

Zablocka's daughter remained in Poland with relatives, the court heard, while she and Podedworna initially lived in London, before moving to the terraced house in Princes Street in 2010.

On 28 August that year, Izabela called her mother as she usually would and "nothing was amiss", Aspden said.

He added: "Following this telephone call Izabela's family neither saw nor heard from her ever again.

"To all intents and purposes she completely disappeared off the face of the earth."

Aspden said shortly after this call, Zablocka was murdered by Podedworna, who "dismembered Izabela's body by cutting it in half with a large knife".

He said police discovered the defendant had previously been employed as a skilled butcher and her work involved "deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife".

The court heard the body was buried in the back garden, before concrete hardstanding was then laid over the top.

"This defendant's post-murder cover-up involved a series of deliberate, calculated, gruesome, and time-consuming acts.

"The appalling mistreatment and destruction of Izabela's body really speaks for itself," he said.

Aspden said although the crown did not know why Izabela was murdered, "there is evidence of sexual jealousy" between Podedworna and Zablocka, describing their relationship as "a stormy and turbulent one".

The court heard men had found the defendant sexually attractive, which "caused suspicion, jealousy, and conflict" in her relationship with Zablocka.

Zablocka's daughter, who was still living in Poland when she went missing, told police she believed her mother wanted to undergo gender reassignment surgery but could not afford to, Aspden said.

Zablocka was reported missing by her family to UK police in November 2010 and then to police in Poland in January 2011, the court heard.

Aspden said when police approached Podedworna, she told them she had not seen her since August, which Aspden described as "lies and a continuation of her post-murder cover-up".

He told the jury Zablocka's family were "forced to live in a state of constant anxiety and dread - unsure whether she was dead or alive".

In 2024, Zablocka's daughter, now an adult, contacted Polish organisation Missing for Years, who contacted Podedworna via Facebook.

Aspden said: "Once again she claimed that she did not know where Izabela was and that she did not know what had happened to her."

A year later in May 2025, Rafal Zalewski, a Polish TV journalist, requested an interview with the defendant, which Aspden said "proved to be a tipping point", with Zalewski travelling to the UK to interview Podedworna on her doorstep in Derby.

The court heard Podedworna, now of Boyer Street in Derby, emailed police on 21 May 2025 saying she wished to provide evidence.

The exchange culminated in her telling officers three days later that they would find Zablocka's body buried in the garden in Princes Street, the jury heard.

Aspden said: "Now and for the first time, the defendant admitted that she had killed Izabela.

"However, now and for the very first time, she claimed that Izabela had died by 'accident' during a violent confrontation between them, and that during this violent incident she had done nothing more than defend herself.

"The crown's case is that this new and freshly-created claim of self-defence was yet another lie by this defendant to try to conceal her guilt."

Aspden said police found Zablocka's buried remains on 1 June 2025, where "all that was left of Izabela was a skeleton and a few small fragments of human tissue".

The court heard details of a post-mortem examination carried out on 3 June by Dr Stuart Hamilton and that due to the passage of time and the condition of the remains, he was unable to ascertain a cause of death.

Aspden said: "[Dr Hamilton] reiterated that the defendant's dismemberment and concealment of the body had proved to be extremely successful.

"She had destroyed all evidence of how she had murdered Izabela."

Aspden said Dr Hamilton's opinion was that Zablocka's body had been "dismembered after death to facilitate its disposal" and that it would have required "considerable force" to cut through her spine with a knife.

On 5 June 2025, Podedworna was charged with murder, preventing Zablocka's lawful burial and perverting the course of justice between August 2010 and June 2025.

On that same day, the court heard Derbyshire Police launched Operation Malayan, a cross-border investigation into Zablocka's death.

Aspden said in the 15 years following Izabela's death, Podedworna "got on with her life as if nothing had happened".

The court heard her mother and sister joined her in the UK, with Aspden saying they "effectively took Izabela's place" in the house.

Jurors were also told Podedworna had since formed a relationship with a local man and had two children with him.

The trial, which is due to last for about four weeks, continues.