Refuse collectors find body of gym boss in a wheelie bin

Horrified binmen were confronted by the sight of a dead man’s feet sticking out of a suitcase after the gym boss was murdered by a friend and dumped by a team of helpers, court heard.

The body of Justin Bello, 38, was found by the refuse collectors on their rounds in Wembley, northwest London, on 25 November 2019.

He was killed by his friend Stasious Scott, 34, at his flat in Stockwell after they had been out to a takeaway together.

Robert Shorter, 46, a friend of Scott’s father, is accused of helping to dispose of Mr Bello’s body after he was killed.

Scott has admitted manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

Shorter denies perverting the course of justice.

Scott’s father Oliver Scott, 54, recruited a team including Shorter to dump the body, the Old Bailey heard.

They also cleaned the flat after the killing, stripped the body and disposed of mobiles, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: ‘At about 8.15 on the morning of 25 November 2019 three refuse collectors were doing their rounds collecting and emptying bins in Brent.

‘When they turned into Lovett Way, which is on the St. Raphael’s estate in Wembley, one of them entered a large bin shed to pull the rubbish bins out into the open so that they could be lifted and tipped into the back of their dustbin lorry.

‘On the ground in that bin shed, behind the bin, was a black zip-up suitcase.

‘Sticking out of it were someone’s feet. As he looked more closely, it dawned on him that he was looking at a dead body.

‘And sure enough, when he was joined by one of his colleagues, and when they opened up the suitcase to look more closely, his worst fears were confirmed.

‘Hidden in that bin shed was the dead body of Justin Bello, who as we shall see, had last been seen alive, not in Wembley, but in Stockwell in south London a little more than 48 hours before his body was found.

‘The police investigation into his death has revealed that Justin Bello had in fact been killed two days before his body was found, in the small hours of 23 November 2019, inside the flat of a man called Stasious Scott.

‘Mr Bello had been killed by Stasious Scott during a fight inside Scott’s flat that night.

‘From the moment that he killed Mr Bello, Stasious Scott did everything he could to try and conceal the fact of Mr Bello’s death from the police.

‘In other words – he killed Mr Bello and then he tried to get away with it

‘He didn’t do this alone – he recruited a team of helpers to assist him in covering up the death of Justin Bello and their combined efforts culminated in Mr Bello’s body being transported from Stockwell to Wembley, where it was unceremoniously dumped in that bin shed.

‘The prosecution case is that this defendant, Robert Shorter, was one of a team of three people specifically recruited to transport the dead body of Mr Bello from Stockwell to Wembley and to dump it in the rubbish.’

Jurors heard that Scott fled to Jamaica after the killing before being extradited back to the UK in January this year.

Oliver Scott, along with Cecilia Bruce-Annon, 50, and Christopher Hatton, 44, were convicted of perverting the course of justice at a previous trial, jurors heard.

Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘Through no fault of his own, Robert Shorter did not appear at that trial, he should have done, but he was ill and couldn’t- he was not fit enough to participate in that trial.

‘Happily he is now better.’

Judge Simon Mayo, KC, told jurors that Shorter is accompanied in the dock by medical staff from the hospital where he is currently held as well as dock officers.

Shorter, of Ranelagh Road, Wembley denies perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues and is due to last two weeks.