Polish butcher sentenced for murder of girlfriend who was buried in the garden of a Derby home for over 15 years
30 year-old Izabela Zablocka lost contact with her family in August of 2010
Last updated 11th Feb 2026
A Polish turkey butcher who buried her girlfriend in two parts in a garden more than 15 years ago has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 21 years.
Anna Podedworna, who's 40 years old, was convicted of murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice on Tuesday after a three-week trial.
Warning: The details included in this article could be distressing for some readers, with references to disposal and burial of a body.
The defendant, of Boyer Street, Derby, sat in the dock at Derby Crown Court wearing a grey sweatshirt, black glasses and her hair tied in a bun when Mrs Justice Williams KC sentenced her on Wednesday.
In her sentencing remarks, the judge said: "Your crimes and Izabela's gruesome fate only came to light in 2025.
"As a result of your violent, manipulative and cruel actions, Katarzyna grew up not knowing what happened to her beloved mother.
"Your actions caused untold misery and trauma to Izabela's family who were left with no idea where she was or what had befallen her."
She added: "I am sure you killed her in anger and frustration rather than when you were attacked by her."
Their relationship had been described in court as "stormy and turbulent".
The prosecution say she committed "deliberate, calculated, gruesome and time-consuming acts" to cover up the crime.
Izabela Zablocka, a 30-year-old mother of one, lost contact with her family in August of 2010 and was reported to the police as missing.
It's believed Podedworna, of Boyer Street, Derby, killed Ms Zablocka that year, having buried her remains in two parts, in bin bags, in a "filthy, makeshift grave".
The jury was told electrical tape had been used to bind her legs together and "considerable force" would have been needed cut the body before she was buried.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC said that "mounting pressure" caused Podedworna to "crack", and email the police, last year when a Polish television journalist flew to the UK to interview her.
In June, officers found Ms Zablocka's remains under concrete hardstanding in the garden of a terraced house in Princes Street, Normanton, Derby, which she shared with Podedworna after they moved to the UK from Poland together.
Giving evidence to the court with the help of a Polish interpreter, Podedworna said she was acting in self-defence when she fatally hit Ms Zablocka with a horse figurine in their house.
Podedworna had told jurors that she could not find a pulse after hitting Ms Zablocka, adding: "I was just terrified, I felt fear. I thought I will bury her. I took the decision I would bury her in the garden.
"I wanted to pick her up whole. I just did not have the strength to pick her up. I had an idea to cut her down. It seemed the only way..."
The court previously heard that at the time of the alleged murder, the defendant was a skilled butcher at a poultry factory, whose work "involved skinning, deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife".
Ms Zablocka's daughter, Katarzyna Zablocka, who stayed in Poland as a child when her mother moved to the UK, said in a statement that she has spent her entire adult life "looking for answers" about the disappearance.
In an impact statement read to the court, Katarzyna Zablocka, also known as Kasia, said: "As a young child I was incredibly close to my mother.
"She was my whole world so the fact she suddenly vanished from my life without a single word of explanation was a horrific experience for me.
"This sudden void left a deep wound in my psyche that has stayed with me to this day.
"In my heart I always felt that my mother did not leave me on purpose.
"I remembered how much she loved me when I was little.
"It was this certainty - that I mattered to her - that gave me the strength to spend my entire adult life looking for answers - what really happened that caused our contact to break off so suddenly?"
She added in a statement released by police that:
"It is heartbreaking, but I do also feel a great sense of satisfaction because I never gave up, and if it wasn't for that determination to find out the truth, we wouldn't be in the place we are now. I never gave up."
Detective Inspector Kane Martin, from Derbyshire Police, said: "This investigation has been particularly challenging and distressing from the outset.
"Izabela's family have had to learn about the unimaginable horrors Anna Podedworna inflicted upon her in a very public manner, so many years after she was taken away.
"After being killed in her own home in August of 2010 Izabela was brutally and horrifically dismembered by the woman she loved - Anna Podedworna, a highly skilled butcher.
"Izabela was a much-loved mother, daughter and granddaughter - nothing can bring her back but it is my hope that today's sentencing allows her family to lay her memory to rest."