Landlady's body dumped by gay lovers, court told (From Wiltshire Times)

Landlady's body dumped by gay lovers, court told

Two gay lovers from Wiltshire murdered a frail Italian landlady and threw her body in a river before using her money to buy groceries, CDs and sex toys, a Court has heard.

David Carr-Burstow and, right, Mark Riley

David Carr-Burstow, 19, and Mark Riley, 24, were charged with murdering Antonietta Guarino, 61, after her body was found in the River Avon on February 23, Bristol Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Martin Meeke told a jury that Mrs Guarino’s lodger Riley had pleaded guilty to murder.

The jury was told both Riley and his boyfriend Carr-Burstow admitted a charge of obstructing a coroner by disposing of Mrs Guarino’s body in a river.

But Carr-Burstow, who was living with Riley in Mrs Guarino’s home in Osborne Road, Trowbridge, at the time of the alleged attack, denies murder and his trial was opened yesterday.

Antonietta Guarino

In his opening statement, Mr Meeke said: “On January 8, Antonietta Guarino was beaten to death with a hammer in her own home in Trowbridge.

“When she was dead or dying, her body was wrapped in a shower curtain, it was tied with electrical cable. The body was then put in her own car, driven to the River Avon and then put in the river.

“This defendant (Carr-Burstow) is charged with her murder.”

The jury heard that Mrs Guarino took Riley in as a lodger in October 2008. Mr Meeke said when Mrs Guarino was asked by Riley if Carr-Burstow could move in, she refused.

Despite this, Mr Meeke said, Carr-Burstow moved in while Mrs Guarino was visiting her family in Surrey at Christmas.

When she returned on January 3, Carr-Burstow would enter the house through Riley’s bedroom window.

Mrs Guarino was last seen shortly after midnight, in the early hours of January 8, by a friend who brought her some fruit as she was unwell and was recovering in bed.

Family and friends were then unable to get in touch with her and started to worry for her safety, Mr Meeke said.

A number of times Riley answered the phone and said Mrs Guarino had gone away to visit friends.

After worried family contacted the police, and visits were made to her property, officers became concerned.

Mr Meeke went on: “Calls were made to her bank which revealed extensive use of her debit and credit cards. The pattern of usage was uncharacteristic.”

Security camera footage revealed Riley and Carr-Burstow had made transactions and the two were both arrested on January 27.

When interviewed, Carr-Burstow initially told police he did not know what had happened to Mrs Guarino. He later told police Riley hit her with the hammer and killed her, but “he didn't know why”.

Mr Meeke said Carr-Burstow went on to tell two friends two different accounts of what happened.

He told one friend he had told Riley to kill Mrs Guarino to “prove his love”, but told the other he killed “a man with a hammer”.

But Mr Meeke said if either account was true, Carr-Burstow would still be guilty of murder.

He said: “What sort of an individual can see a woman bludgeoned to death and assist – however much you love the person involved – by wrapping her in a shower curtain, putting her in her own car and dumping the body in a river?”

Mr Meeke said one of the first things Carr-Burstow and Riley did after dumping Mrs Guarino’s body was to order pizza from Domino’s.

Mr Meeke said the defendant and his co-accused then went on a “spending spree” with Mrs Guarino’s cash.

As well as withdrawing £3,000 in cash, they bought groceries, CDs by rappers Eminem and Dr Dre, and £124-worth of sex toys in Mrs Guarino's name.

They also bought an Xbox and Ford Fiesta, and sold the dead woman’s Toyota Yaris and jewellery.

The jury heard that Mrs Guarino was born in Italy but moved to Surrey with her husband, Luigi Sebastiano, in the 1960s.

She had two children in the 1970s, Julietta and Tom, and divorced from her husband in 1992 and moved to Trowbridge.

Mrs Guarino suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and depression, and needed a stick to assist her while walking.

She worked into her fifties as a carer, but retired due to her ill health. As a consequence of her low income, she occasionally took in a lodger, the jury heard.

The trial continues.