Gruesome trail led to New York

Tristian Lovelock had spent the evening drinking with his killer

When a jury at Winchester Crown Court found Richard Markham guilty of murder on Wednesday, it brought to an end a gruesome tale which involved police forces on two continents.

Markham, 28, admitted killing his drinking partner Tristian Lovelock, but his claim that he acted in self-defence was not believed by the jury.

The pair had returned to Markham's house in the South Ham area of Basingstoke on the evening of Thursday 30 May, 2002, after drinking at a friends house in the town.

The following afternoon, Mr Lovelock's head was found by a dog walker in a nearby park and a trail of limbs and blood led back to Markham's home.

There, police found the victim's torso and other body parts, including an arm which had been baked in an oven.

Tristian's like lying on the floor in about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven bits with a big knife sticking out of his back

Answer phone message read out in court

Markham had killed his friend with a hammer, claiming he feared Mr Lovelock was going to attack him with a bayonet after the pair argued over a woman.

In court, Markham said: "I thought I was going to get stabbed because every time Tristian had got aggressive with me he had assaulted me.

"There was a hammer on the sofa. I slid my bum forwards so I wasn't sat on the hammer so it was in my hand. It all happened quite quickly.

"Tristian suddenly tensed up and looked away like he was going to attack me - he suddenly went like he was going to stab me.

"I was sat down, I just leaned forward and it hit him straight in the face, it was a quick movement. I put a lot of effort into it."

'Ticket to anywhere'

As Markham described the act, he re-enacted the scene, jumping out of his chair to demonstrate the movement to the court.

He added: "I didn't know what to do, I totally flipped, lost it, I picked up the hammer again, I hit him with it, I don't know how many times, on the head and face, about 15 times, I do not know how many, I really don't."

Mr Markham said he cut up Mr Lovelock's body with the intention of hiding the pieces, before going to the nearby Russell Howard Park to bury them.

CCTV cameras filmed Markham as he made his way to New York

He claimed that when he returned to the house he was in a "blind rage" and stabbed the bayonet into Mr Lovelock's torso.

He then put one of Mr Lovelock's arms into the oven.

The jury heard transcripts of two answer phone messages made to mutual friends of the two men.

In the first message, left in the early hours of 31 May, the voice said: "Tristian's like lying on the floor in about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven bits [sound of laughter on tape] with a big knife sticking out of his back.

"There is all blood and guts all over the floor, all over the place, all over everything."

After attempting to dispose of the body, Markham took a taxi to Heathrow airport where he asked for a "ticket to anywhere".

His journey continued to New York where the international hunt for Markham ended in bizarre circumstances when he was arrested as he sat in New York's Central Park reading a newspaper article about himself.

"You got me," he told police officers who confronted him, before lifting his shirt to display the telltale "Made in England" tattoo encircling his navel.

Later, as Markham was taken out of Central Park police station, hands cuffed behind his back, he seemed happy to talk to reporters waiting for a glimpse of him.

"New York is great, mate," he yelled. "I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

But when asked by one journalist if he and his victim had been lovers, his jocular tone abruptly turned into a string of obscenities.