'Jealousy' led to woman's killing

Ms Xie's corpse was found in this bag in the River Thames

Jealousy could be a motive for the "savage murder" of a Chinese student whose headless body was found in the River Thames, a court has heard.

The decapitated and handless body of Xing Xing Xie, 23, was found in a laundry bag in the Thames marina at Rotherhithe, south London, last April.

Ms Xie was decapitated while she was still alive, the old Bailey heard.

Noor Azura Mohd-Yusoff, 22, of Ealing, west London, and Lon Gian, 26, from Deptford, south London, deny murder.

Mr Gian, of Vietnamese origin, also faces a charge of perverting the course of justice as he is accused of disposing of the student's body.

A third person, a Vietnamese man Chanh Ngo, is also believed to be involved in the murder, but he has fled the country.

'Lethal' cocaine dose

Ms Xie's body was found by a couple who lived on a boat in South Dock Marina.

About two months later her head wrapped in black plastic bags was found in a nearby dock, but Ms Xie's hands have never been recovered.

Brian Altman, QC, for the prosecution, said "jealousy" could be "one possible motive" as Ms Mohd-Yusoff, a Malaysian, "was known to be jealous of his [Mr Gian's] relationships with and closeness to other women".

"She appeared to be possessive of him and referred to him as her husband and to herself as his wife."

Mr Altman said Ms Xie, who first arrived in the UK in 2002, had been stabbed more than once in the neck two days before her body was found.

He said that post-mortem tests suggested "the cutting of the neck to remove the head was likely to have been done whilst she was still alive".

He said a "lethal amount" of cocaine was found in her which probably "incapacitated" her but injuries to her neck were such that "death by these injuries would have preceded any potential death by cocaine".

Evidence suggested that Ms Xie was killed in the couple's flat in Knoyle Street in New Cross, but Mr Gian and his girlfriend have since moved to different cities in the West Midlands.

The court heard there was also mobile phone evidence of Mr Gian's involvement in disposing of the body.

The trial continues.