Man accused of dismembering woman

Ms Shah's body was found a week after she was reported missing

A 30-year-old man is to go on trial charged with murdering a Nepalese woman in Glasgow and dismembering her body.

Roshan Dantis is alleged to have restrained 21-year-old Khusbu Shah at a flat in Coventry Drive in the city's Dennistoun area on 1 June this year.

It is claimed he then attacked her with a cleaver, strangled her and severed her head and hands.

Mr Dantis made no plea during during a preliminary hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.

Mrs Shah lived in Britain for four years and was recently a student at Glasgow Caledonian University, where she studied accounting part-time.

Her body was discovered in undergrowth in the east end of the city about a week after she was reported missing.

Mr Dantis is alleged to have seized hold of Ms Shah and restrained her before binding her hands, legs and mouth with tape.

He is claimed to have then repeatedly struck her on the head and body with a cleaver, restricted her breathing and compressed her throat before severing her head and hands with the weapon or by other means unknown.

He is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of her remains.

Ms Shah's body was found in undergrowth in Dennistoun

It is claimed he put her body in a holdall and hid it in bushes near the property in Coventry Drive.

He is alleged to have put the head and hands in plastic bags along with other items such as clothing, the cleaver and disposable gloves and dumped them at a nearby railway embankment.

It is said he removed Ms Shah's mobile phone from the flat and cleaned the property to remove blood stains.

He is then claimed to have sent a text message to the dead woman's husband, Nagendra Shah, pretending that she had been abducted and later stated to the man and his own wife that his home had been burgled.

Mr Dantis is accused of sending another text message to Mr Shah claiming that he was not responsible for the killing and attempting to blame others.

He also faces a charge of attempting to extort £120,000 and a television from Mr Shah.

Judge Lady Dorrian adjourned the case for a further preliminary hearing next month. A trial is expected to begin about three weeks later.