Chilling moment killer wheels butchered victim in suitcase to canal before grisly clue found in garden helped snare him
THIS is the chilling moment a killer dragged his butchered victim in a suitcase to dump in a canal – before he was finally snared by a grim clue in the garden.
Michael Spalding, 39, was brutally murdered by Lorenzo Simon, who dismembered him using his own decorator tools.
The twisted killer and his girlfriend Michelle Bird then wheeled two suitcases carrying Michael’s severed remains to Birmingham Canal.
Weighted down with concrete, paving slabs and the butchering tools, the bags were chucked in the murky water.
Simon, 34, believed he had got away with murder until the suitcases bobbed to the surface – bringing with them the horrific truth.
The gruesome crime has now been explored on documentary The Suitcase Murders on discovery+.
On May 12, 2014, a Canal & River Trust contractor found the first suitcase containing Michael’s severed body.
His head was missing, along with his left leg, and the bag was also filled with decorating items Michael used in his job.
The following day, a second suitcase emerged – this time containing the missing head – but part of his leg was still nowhere to be seen.
For Michael’s brother Richard, the agony of learning how his brother died was intensified when he was forced to identify him at the morgue.
He said: “It’s something you watch in a film. It was pretty terrible really. I couldn’t believe it. It was so gruesome, the thought of it really…I think you just become numb.
“I was a bit shocked. It did give me a bit of closure in that you’re looking at a physical thing rather than a bit of paper so it’s something I felt I had to do.”
Officers soon discovered Michael had been living with his girlfriend Kirsty at Simon’s flat with his partner Bird.
Simon and Michael had known each other for a long time and the killer was revealed to be a violent thug with previous convictions.
Police were certain they had found their prime suspect and that Michael had been murdered then hacked up at the address.
They arrested Simon, who was captured swearing on police bodycam footage as he repeatedly lied to officers.
He told them: “I’ve got nothing to hide…f**k all to hide at all. I’m not a murderer.”
Crucial clue
While he was in custody, police began searching the home in a desperate bid to formally link Simon to the killing.
The hunt for clues paid off and they discovered tiny blood droplets on a wall in the lounge.
But the most crucial piece of evidence was found in an oil drum in the back garden that had been set alight.
A charred section of a humerus bone was found among the ashes, which police believed belonged to Michael’s missing leg.
Using 3D scanning technology, experts were able to find a perfect fit between the fragment and severed leg found in the second suitcase.
As if the find wasn’t enough of a smoking gun, the chilling CCTV then emerged of Simon and Bird dragging the suitcases to the canal.
The evil pair were charged with murder and went on trial where it emerged Simon had effectively treated his renovator pal as “slave labour” in the months leading up to the killing.
“It didn’t affect him. I watched him every day in court and it was nothing. Like he was just in trouble for something but he actually hacked at my brother
Richard Spalding
Michael was forced to work until past midnight, was given just one meal a day and was only allowed out with Simon’s permission.
He had eventually snapped at the ill-treatment – causing raging Simon to bludgeon and knife his friend to death.
Birmingham Crown Court was also told a number of weapons were used to dismember Michael’s body – including knives, a saw and possibly a heavy bladed weapon like an axe.
Richard said: “To find out that Lorenzo Simon had killed my brother and not only killed him, cut him up and put him into two suitcases and took the trouble of dragging him down to the canal and throwing him in was pretty mind-numbing really. How someone could be that callous.
“In the court case he actually explained how he did it, I was just overwhelmed with anger. I felt more angry than hurt that I couldn’t do anything.
“It didn’t affect him. I watched him every day in court and it was nothing. Like he was just in trouble for something but he actually hacked at my brother.
“It was hard to understand how someone could do that.”
Monster caged
Simon was convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 19 years in 2015.
His girlfriend Bird was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender and sentenced to two and a half years.
For Richard, the gruesome way in which his brother was murdered will torture him forever but he is trying to move on with his life.
He recently had a baby and plans to tell his son all about his uncle and how he was as a person.
Richard said: “He was a nightmare. He was naughty – he was always getting into trouble, he was a cheeky chappy.
“But he was always my brother – he was always there for me.”
- Catch ‘The Suitcase Murders’ on Quest Red on Saturdays. Also available to stream on discovery+