Man jailed for life after murdering police officer he met on Grindr
Stefano Brizzi has been jailed for a minimum of 24 years for of murdering a police officer he met on Grindr.
The remains of PC Gordon Semple, 59, were found after a neighbour reported a “smell of death” coming from Brizzi’s flat in south London.
Brizzi, 50, had been found guilty of murdering Mr Semple, who had been strangled during a hook-up in April before being dismembered.
The Old Bailey heard that Brizzi tried a number of methods to dispose of Semple’s body – cooking parts of his body, attempting to dissolve his body parts in a bath full of acid, and dumping some of his remains in communal waste bins.
The court had heard that Brizzi watched TV show ‘Breaking Bad’, which features a scene in which characters attempt to dissolve a body in a bath of Hydrofluoric acid.
The Italian IT developer had pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, with the defence claiming the PC died in “a sex game gone wrong” and that the death had been accidental during a “state of erotic bliss”.
Today, Brizzi was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 24 years.
Though he had claimed to be remorseful for the death, the judge told him: “Regret you express now for Mr Semple’s death has to be seen against what you did over a number of days to his body.”
Gordon Semple went missing on April 1 after being last seen close to London Bridge. His partner, Gary Meeks, reported him missing later that day.
Originally from Inverness, Mr Semple worked at Bank of Scotland before joining the Metropolitan Police.
Brizzi is the second murderer in just weeks to be jailed for killing someone he met through gay hook-up apps.
Last month Stephen Port was jailed for a whole-life term for killing four men he met via hook-up apps including Grindr in Barking, East London.
