Man handed life sentence after human remains found in London and Bristol

A man who took suitcases containing the body parts of two men from west London to Bristol has been sentenced to life in jail following a complex and harrowing Met investigation.

Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35 (08.03.90) of Scotts Road, Shepherd's Bush Green was handed a minimum sentence of 42 years imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, 24 October.

Paul Longworth, aged 71, and Albert Alfonso, aged 62, were brutally murdered at their flat in Shepherd’s Bush on Monday, 8 July last year.

Detective Chief Inspector Ollie Stride, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command who led this investigation, said:

“This has been one of the most harrowing murders my team and I have ever investigated.

"The team have consumed hundreds of hours of footage – including the murder of Albert Alfonso.

"Those images will stay with all of us for a very long time.

“Paul and Albert were murdered in the most brutal and callous of ways.

“They had known one another for decades and were in a loving, caring relationship.

"They did not deserve to have their lives taken away in the most traumatising of circumstances - in the privacy of their own home, where they had welcomed Mosquera in.

"The couple had opened their door to a man so evil he would take advantage of their lively spirit and generosity, and murder them to satisfy his own financial gains.

“The investigation has been incredibly complex. We have worked tirelessly to secure the trust of those who have been invaluable contributors to our investigation - and build a catalogue of evidence which would ensure we brought Mosquera to justice.

“We are grateful to all those who helped us build this investigation, including Avon and Somerset Police - as well as the many witnesses who provided detailed accounts of events which must have been extremely hard to share. I would also like to thank colleagues from the Crown Prosecution Service and Counsel for their efforts in this case.

"We have also worked closely with the LGBT+ Independent Advisory Group and I am grateful for their support and the advice they have provided as they helped monitor the investigation.

“This is a case which has deeply affected many people from all walks of life – and it has been traumatic for all of my colleagues involved to work on.

"This sentence see justice secured for the cold-blooded murder of two innocent men and taken an evil and dangerous offender off our streets. A sentence of this length demonstrates the seriousness with which the Judge took.

"Our thoughts remain with all those that knew and loved Paul and Albert - and whilst nothing can bring them back, I hope this sentence offers some semblance of justice and closure as you continue to process the trauma of what happened.”

Detective Inspector Neil Meade, from Avon and Somerset Police, said:

"Yostin Mosquera committed truly barbaric crimes which he had clearly planned in advance.

"He has shown a complete lack of remorse for what he did and I'm pleased that Albert and Paul's family and friends have now seen justice served with this sentence.

"We may never fully know why he took the decision to travel to Bristol and try and dispose of their remains here, but I'm grateful for the support we received from the community and for the work of the investigation team in making sure he was arrested and brought before the courts."

Gathering and examining evidence

Mosquera booked a van with a driver, and two days after the murders, Mosquera travelled with two suitcases containing body parts to the Mall Pub near the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

He caught a taxi the rest of the way to the bridge and caught the attention of local residents, asking him if he needed help with what would be confirmed as enormously heavy cases, with a red substance leaking out, which Mosquera claimed was oil. One witness filmed Mosquera acting suspiciously before Mosquera attempted to knock the phone out of his hand and ran away.

The police were alerted to his suspicious behaviour and a murder investigation was launched after officers discovered the body parts inside the cases.

An address label left on one of the cases led police back to Scotts Road, and on Wednesday, 10 July, Met officers would find crucial evidence in a search of the property, including the decapitated heads of both men in a chest freezer in a hallway of the flat. The murder weapons were found close by.

Homicide detectives built a case with an abundance of evidence to support the motive that Mosquera murdered both men to obtain their property and their money.

Detectives would discover Mosquera had researched a freezer online on several occasions, including the one that he later ordered to be delivered to the address.

Mosquera, who was a Columbian national, had also conducted searches online in Spanish, on topics such as how long it would take for a body to decompose and where on the head would be a fatal blow.

Examinations of Mosquera’s laptop revealed that in the weeks before the murders he was browsing the internet in an effort to find out the value of the Shepherd’s Bush property, and he accessed information about Paul's and Albert’s finances.

He had also attempted to open a bank account using the Scotts Road address. Immediately after the murders, he accessed a spreadsheet which contained their online banking passwords, and attempted to login to a number of their online bank accounts. He unsuccessfully attempted to send £4,000 to his account in Columbia.

The murders

Mosquera had got to know both men, who were in a civil partnership, over a number of years, and had been staying with them at their flat for the month prior to their murders. It was a property where the two men had lived happily for many years together.

Mosquera was involved in a consensual sexual relationship with Albert, one which Paul was aware of and lovingly accepted. The court heard Albert simply had no reason to kill his partner, Paul, despite Mosquera’s defence that the two of them were in a controlling and coercive relationship.

It was while Albert was at work that Mosquera killed Paul. A neighbour recalls speaking to Paul that morning from one of the windows. This was the last sighting of him alive. Detectives trawled hours of footage from a CCTV camera, located opposite the entrance to the Scotts Road flat, which captured Mosquera standing at the window of the flat and drawing the curtains at around 12:30hrs. It was then that he is believed to have killed Paul.

The post-mortem revealed Paul had died from multiple severe blunt force traumas to the head with a hammer, with injuries on his hands suggesting he’d try to defend himself. Mosquera hid the body in a divan storage space under the bed in Paul’s room and waited for Albert to come home.

Albert arrived home early evening. The killing was captured on cameras which had been set up in Albert's bedroom to record a sex session between him and Mosquera. The footage showed Mosquera performing sex acts on Albert in his bedroom, before repeatedly stabbing him and cutting his throat.

Mosquera’s arrest and plea

Mosquera was arrested in Bristol in the early hours of Saturday, 13 July 2024. He was charged with two counts of murder two days later.

Although he had admitted killing Albert, he denied the offence of murder, admitting only the lesser offence of manslaughter following what he called, a loss of self-control. He also denied murdering Paul, claiming his long-term partner, Albert, had killed him instead.

Mosquera was convicted of two counts of murder at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, 21 July.

For help and advice

If you’ve been affected by this case, please contact Samaritans here or Mind's support line on 0300 102 1234.

If you're looking for advice or specialist support for a particular issue, these organisations may be able to help.

For anyone in the LGBT+ community affected by this incident, please visit www.galop.org.uk for information and support provided by the LGBT+ charity Galop.