A landlord who chopped his friend up and stuffed the body parts into suitcases which he dumped in a canal was today found guilty of murder.

Lorenzo Simon, 34, forced victim Michael Spalding, 39, to decorate his flat before attacking him when he refused to work any longer.

He then dismembered the handyman using a hacksaw and put Mr Spalding's body parts and tools into two suitcases.

Simon, with the help of his girlfriend Michelle Bird, 35, then threw the suitcases into a canal which they weighed down using broken concrete slabs.

Today he was found guilty of murder after a jury took 15 hours to decide by unanimous verdict at Birmingham Crown Court.

Bird was cleared of murder and manslaughter but admitted assisting an offender following the four-week trial.

The court heard Simon murdered Mr Spalding, known as Spud, by stabbing him in the neck at the flat they shared in Smethwick, Birmingham, on April 26 last year.

He then hacked the body up and stuffed the head, limbs and tools into a suitcase.

Police found his remains when a narrow boat owner spotted one suitcase, containing Mr Spalding's torso, floating in the Birmingham Canal on May 5.

It was examined by a Canal Trust contractor on May 12, who opened the case to discover the gruesome evidence.

Police divers recovered the second case which contained Mr Spalding's head, limbs and tools - below Pope Bridge, Smethwick, on May 16.

Further searches of the canal bed uncovered a hacksaw which was used to saw off Mr Spalding's head.

Using futuristic 3D scanning technology experts were able to show a perfect jigsaw fit between the charred bone and a severed limb found in the suitcase.

The same technique - which provides image resolution 43,000 times more detailed that a hospital CT scan - proved a link between the hacksaw and lacerations found on other bones.


Drag marks were also found on the towpath near Pope's Bridge where Simon and Bird dumped the suitcases into the canal.


A second suitcase (pictured) containing Mr Spalding's grisly remains was discovered 11 days later


3D scanning technology was able to prove a link between this hacksaw and lacerations found on Mr Spalding's bones


When police raided the home, parts of a humerus bone were discovered inside this charred drum

Unemployed Simon, who has convictions for robbery, burglary, theft and supplying drugs, moved to Derby in a bid to evade police but was arrested with Bird on May 19.

He denied knowledge of Mr Spalding's death, claiming he threw him out following a row over a car crash, but later admitted assaulting him during a fight.

Neighbours reported seeing a bonfire in the garden and when officers raided the home they discovered part of a humerus bone inside the drum.

Detectives later heard accounts from neighbours who told of 'aggressive, nasty' arguments coming from the flat.

One recalled Simon saying: 'I want this place finished, I've got to live here, you are taking the p**s'

Mr Spalding was heard to reply: 'I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want to go home. I've been at it all day'.

Adjourning the case until next Wednesday for sentencing, Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said: 'Lorenzo Simon you have been convicted of murder. As you know the sentence for murder is life imprisonment.

'The question is the minimum amount of time you should serve before the consideration of parole.'
Speaking after the verdict, Detective Inspector Harry Harrison, of West Midlands Police, said: 'Michael was exploited in life by Lorenzo Simon and Michelle Bird and they afforded him no dignity in death.

'On the contrary, they treated him in the most despicable manner in order to conceal their crime.
'Simon accepted Michael as a tenant on the agreement he used his considerable handyman skills to do up the flat.

'But he treated him like a slave, working him past midnight and then waking him early in the morning to continue working.

'They were only allowed out with his say-so and given just one meal a day, usually pizza and chips.
'Michael finally broke and complained at their treatment. We believe that, combined with a car accident where Simon accused him of being responsible for damaging his VW Passat, led to the fatal attack.

'Simon said he hit Michael in the back and that he fell to the floor dead within seconds and claimed to have disposed of the body in panic.

'Bird said she was on an errand to buy alcohol at the time of the killing but later admitted helping her boyfriend in the aftermath.

'However, we were able to provide compelling evidence to the jury that this was a vicious murder and that Simon went to considerable lengths to try and cover his tracks.'

Canary Updates

By Corey Charlton