Bar worker stabbed man to death in Chelmsford, court hears
45-year-old Cumali Turhan was attacke at Barista bar in November last year.
A bar worker stabbed a love rival to death and mutilated his body, putting him in a bin that went to landfill, before taking a flight to Istanbul, a court has heard.
Christopher Paxton KC, prosecuting, said Ceyhan Dinler - who is still on the run - stabbed 45-year-old Cumali Turhan in the neck at Barista bar in Chelmsford, Essex, in the early hours of November 19 last year.
The allegations were made at the trial of 45-year-old Ciprian Ilie at Chelmsford Crown Court. Ilie denies assisting an offender and preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body.
Mr Paxton said Ilie, who is homeless, helped clean up the murder scene at the bar, helped Dinler - who was aged 38 at the time of an earlier police appeal - put Mr Turhan's body in a bin and brought Dinler some clean clothes.
The prosecutor said Ilie told a worker at a homeless charity, who then called police, that "he assisted Mr Dinler in cleaning up the murder scene and dumping his body in the bin, but he claimed he had acted under duress".
Mr Paxton said police had searched 80 tonnes of landfill looking for Mr Turhan's body.
"Almost two months after his murder Mr Turhan's naked and mutilated body was found on January 11 this year," he said.
He earlier told jurors there had been an "ongoing and simmering issue" between Dinler and Mr Turhan, who was said to have "had a relationship with Mr Dinler's girlfriend".
The prosecutor said: "Dinler was angered by what happened some months before."
He said that after Mr Turhan was attacked, Dinler took a train to Prosecco Caffe at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford and spent £25.50.
"No doubt knowing the body of Mr Turhan was dumped into one of those commercial bins," said Mr Paxton.
"Incredibly, Mr Dinler returns back to Chelmsford."
He said Dinler was captured on CCTV at Chelmsford train station, walked back towards Barista bar, and "works his shift" on November 19.
"While the bar has been cleaned by Mr Ilie, there were broken items and bloodied tissues and cloths," he said.
He said that Mr Turhan was "well-known in the Turkish community" and "people began to worry when they couldn't get hold" of him.
Mr Paxton said that after finishing his shift, Dinler went to Stansted Airport and took a flight to Istanbul.
"He was fleeing the UK having murdered Mr Turhan," he said, adding that he travelled with no luggage.
"He had fled this country having unlawfully killed Mr Turhan and he has not returned," Mr Paxton told jurors.
"That's why he's not at the back of court in the dock alongside Mr Ilie."