In a shocking turn of events, a Polish mother who went missing nearly 15 years ago has been found buried in a garden in Normanton, Derby. According to the court proceedings, Izabela Zablocka, aged 30 at the time of her “violent death”, was murdered, dismembered, and placed in bin bags by her partner, Anna Podedworna.
The jury heard that Zablocka and Podedworna, 40, had a “stormy and turbulent” relationship. The two women had rented a flat in Poland together before moving to the UK in 2009, initially living in London and then relocating to a small terraced house in Normanton, where they both worked at a poultry factory called Cranberry Foods.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspden QC told the court that after a phone call to her mother on August 28, 2010, Zablocka’s family, including her daughter who was still living in Poland, never heard from her again. The Crown’s case is that shortly after this final phone call, Podedworna murdered Zablocka, dismembered her body by cutting it in half with a large knife, and buried the remains in the back garden, covering the makeshift grave with a section of concrete hardstanding.
Podedworna initially told the police that she did not know where Zablocka was, but later admitted to killing her. However, she claimed that Zablocka’s death was an accident during a violent confrontation and that she had acted in self-defence. The prosecutor dismissed this as “yet another lie by this defendant to conceal her guilt, to cover up the murder and to deceive and hoodwink those around her.”
Zablocka’s family reported her missing to the UK police in November 2010, and they subsequently contacted the Polish authorities in January 2011. It was not until last year, when a Polish television journalist flew to the UK to interview Podedworna, that the defendant finally admitted to killing Zablocka and provided the police with evidence.
Podedworna is charged with murder, preventing a lawful burial, and perverting the course of justice. She denies all the charges against her, and the trial is ongoing at Derby Crown Court.
