Stuntman ‘throttled ex and buried her in shallow grave’

An Estonian policeman’s son throttled his ex-lover before burying her naked body in a shallow grave in her garden after she asked him to repay a debt, a court heard.

Stuntman Kirill Belorusov, 32, allegedly strangled French filmmaker Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, with a ligature before binding her feet and hands behind her back.

Belorusov then wrapped her corpse in bin bags before burying her beneath a thin coating of soil in the garden of her flat in Kew, west London, the Old Bailey heard.

The estranged couple had discussed a new property he said she could live in following problems with a previous landlord.

Ms Garcia-Bertaux believed she was going to embark on a new start and Belorusov was going to help her move her belongings into the new property.

Friends reported her missing in March this year after not seeing her for many days but were still receiving messages from her phone in French, which were allegedly ritten by Belorusov.

Oliver Glasgow, QC, prosecuting, said: ‘Laureline Garcia-Bertaux exchanged excited messages with those closest to her about the new home and kept them updated with her plans.

‘Kirill Belorusov, whom she had not seen for many months, had travelled to the United Kingdom a few weeks before.

‘Whilst in the country, he told her that he had found a new address for her to live at and he went to stay with her on the weekend of 2/3 March.

‘She believed that he intended to help her pack up her belongings and to move to the new address.

‘However, there was no new address and Belorusov had no plans to help her move.’

Ms Garcia-Bertaux, was reported missing on March 5 after failing to turn up for work at PR firm Golin, where she was an executive assistant.

Her body was found the following day in the back garden of her home in Darell Road, Kew, west London.

Mr Glasgow said: ‘On searching the back garden the police became suspicious about the condition of a flowerbed that appeared to have loose soil on top of it.

‘Those suspicions were increased when they also found a spade by the back door that had earth stuck to the blade.

‘Officers began to scrape away the topsoil and quickly realised that something had been hidden in the flowerbed.

‘After carefully removing the earth they discovered that a body had been buried in the garden. It was Laureline Garcia-Bertaux.

‘She was naked; her feet were bound, and her hands were tied behind her back; there was a ligature around her neck; and she had been wrapped in bin bags.’

Belorusov fled to Tallinn, the capital of his home country Estonia, and was extradited on 20 March.

When her alleged killer was extradited an iPhone he had been using for nine months was discovered.

‘When the phone was examined. It was to reveal a wealth of incriminating evidence,’ Mr Glasgow said.

‘Messages exchanged between Kirill Belorusov and Laureline Garcia-Bertaux show the extent of his duplicity; he apparently owed her a large sum of money and she was in desperate need for the debt to be repaid.

‘He made constant excuses for his failure to repay her, often feigning illness and claiming that he was dying of cancer.

‘The house that he had promised she could move into did not exist and the pictures she was provided were simply screen shots from the internet site of an estate agent.’

Mr Glasgow told the court Belorusov had a second girlfriend living in Kilburn, while dating Ms Garcia-Bertaux.

When they met in 2009 in a nightclub Belorusov told Ms Garcia-Bertaux he was employed in the casino business as a bodyguard for ‘high-rolling’ gamblers.

‘He has worked in nightclubs or bars but he claimed to have worked as a stuntman and also told friends of Garcia-Bertaux that he worked in the casino business as a bodyguard for high rollers or the money that they gambled,’ Mr Glasgow said.

‘He was often seen with large sums of cash upon him and could generous with his money; however, in the tax year 2016/2017 he declared an income of only £7,384.’

Shaven-headed Belorusov denies murdering Ms Garcia-Bertaux between March 2 and March 6.

Mr Glasgow added: ‘Quite what Belorusov got out of maintaining two long distance relationships, where he rarely saw either woman and constantly had to deceive them about where he was and what he was up to, remains to be seen.

‘However, it proves that he is an accomplished liar, who thinks only of himself and who in reality cared little for either of them.’

He said police had contacted the NHS and there is no record for Belorusov seeking treatment for cancer.

Mr Glasgow said the victim, originally from Aix-en-Provence, had worked in the film and producing industry.

Her mother sat in the well of the court helped by a French translator as well a representative from the French Embassy.

Those who knew her best thought ‘She was going places in the media world’ and was ‘full of aspiration’.

Belorusov, of no fixed address, denies murder.

The trial continues.
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