00:00:00
[audio logo] [tense music] ♪ ♪ Colin Adwent: The online
world is a force for good,
00:00:17
but it also can be used
for very bad things. Honor Doro Townshend:
Dating apps can offer this opportunity
to meet new people
00:00:25
and explore sexuality. They can also pose
some significant risks. These dating apps,
these hookup apps
00:00:32
can actually provide
a source of victims for manipulators and abusers. And unfortunately, in this
case, this was a killer.
00:00:43
Suruthi Bala: Gordon
was using dating apps to explore sexual
desires, sexual activities
00:00:50
with other people. And it was a chance
encounter, somebody offering what he wanted.
00:00:56
And Gordon Semple was last
seen on CCTV at about 3:00 PM on Great Guildford Street.
00:01:03
- It was out
of character for him, as well, not to have arrived
home at the normal time.
00:01:09
So at that point, his
partner became concerned and started to raise the alarm,
being fearful that something
00:01:14
had happened to Gordon. [siren blares] ♪ ♪ The murder created
national headlines.
00:01:26
It was such an awful
way of killing somebody. - Due to the condition
of those human remains,
00:01:33
it will take some time
for the cause of death to be established
and for formal identification
00:01:39
to take place. Honor Doro Townshend: It's
one of the most extreme and heinous destructions
of a human body
00:01:48
that I've ever come across. [siren] [theme music] ♪ ♪ [tense music] ♪ ♪ host:<i> Exactly a week ago,</i>
<i> 59-year-old police constable</i>
00:02:22
<i> Gordon Semple left for work.</i> <i> He never came home.</i>
00:02:26
<i> Inquiries showed</i>
<i> he'd attended a work</i>
00:02:27
<i> meeting near The Shard</i>
<i> skyscraper close</i> <i> to London Bridge.</i>
00:02:31
<i> And this CCTV image was</i>
<i> the last sighting of him</i>
00:02:35
<i> at 3:00 in the afternoon.</i> [suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ The forensic work is
continuing at the scene.
00:02:45
And the police say
there is more yet to do. Very little has been revealed
about the exact circumstances
00:02:51
in which the body was
found, nor has a cause of death been revealed. [suspenseful music]
00:03:00
♪ ♪ Colin Adwent: Gordon
Semple was 59. He was a police officer. And he'd worked
in London primarily
00:03:10
on anti-social behavior teams. He was originally
from Inverness, but had come down here
and had been working down here
00:03:19
for the Metropolitan Police. Suruthi Bala: He'd
moved to London when he was around 19 years old.
00:03:26
And he was a senior
police officer there, working in an incredibly
challenging unit.
00:03:31
And he had dedicated decades
of his life to the London men. [siren blares] Colin Adwent:
He'd been a police
00:03:39
officer for nearly 30 years
and was close to retirement. He was described by his
family as a sort of<i> Dixon</i>
00:03:45
<i> of Dock Green</i> type character. And what they meant by that
is an old style British police
00:03:50
officer-- kind, caring. He was active in his community. He raised money for charity,
ran marathons, and,
00:03:59
to all intents
and purposes, led a respectable life and was just
a nice, kind, gentle person.
00:04:07
narrator:<i> Gordon</i>
<i> Semple was active</i> <i> on social media platforms</i>
<i> such as Facebook,</i>
00:04:11
<i> where he would interact</i>
<i> with friends and family.</i>
00:04:15
Honor Doro Townshend: He
was described by his family and friends as very
well loved and
00:04:19
very engaged with his family, Suruthi Bala: And he was
a man who seemingly was leading a sort of double life.
00:04:28
On the surface,
he was a highly, highly respected
police officer, a very senior police officer.
00:04:33
And also at home, he had
a very stable relationship, a very loving relationship
with a man named Gary.
00:04:41
The two of them had been
together for around 25 years. Colin Adwent: They'd been
in a long-term relationship,
00:04:46
but it was an open
relationship. Dario van der Kraken: Being
in an open relationship
00:04:50
means that you--
while still you are attached
to your primary partners, you can have other sexual
encounters with other people.
00:04:58
So potentially, you can
also date other people. It depends on the rules
that the couple
00:05:02
actually set themselves. Colin Adwent: Gordon
is free to go off and have sex with other men.
00:05:08
- Which obviously might be hard
for some people to understand. But by all accounts, the pair
of them were very happy.
00:05:15
narrator:<i> Gordon met</i>
<i> other men through</i> <i> online dating</i>
<i> platforms, using them</i>
00:05:19
<i> to message potential</i>
<i> partners and arrange hookups.</i>
00:05:24
Honor Doro Townshend:
Online dating is obviously a huge industry. And a significant
portion of people
00:05:29
nowadays meet
their partners online. Because of the popularity
of online dating,
00:05:35
there are apps that are
targeted at basically anything and everything, from
the seriousness of relationship
00:05:41
that you're looking
for or particular interests, particular sexual interests.
00:05:48
And it's a massive industry. And so many people now
engage in multiple platforms.
00:05:54
Dario van der Kraken:
Each has their own niche. Grindr, obviously,
is the most used ones
00:05:59
because it was the first
one to come into the market 10-ish years ago. Grindr is mostly for hookups.
00:06:07
Most powerful tool that
Grindr has is immediacy. Grindr was really
designed for speed.
00:06:14
However, there are people
that use Grindr to look for long-term relationships. So every app normally has all
of these type of users looking
00:06:21
for casual encounters or
serious, long-term relationship as well, because it's
just about how
00:06:27
you put yourself out there,
what you put in your profile as well. So you can actually filter out
people that are not looking
00:06:33
for what you are looking for. Honor Doro Townshend:
Online dating means that you can meet
people that you'd have never
00:06:42
met before in normal life. You can meet people
from different areas, from different cultures,
from different countries.
00:06:48
And it means that
you can create these organic connections
with people that you may never have met before.
00:06:54
There is, however,
of course, a potential risk, a potential downside
to online dating.
00:06:59
And that's because, ultimately,
people can present themselves as whatever they wish.
00:07:04
Now, there are
various tools that dating apps will try and put
in place to help reduce this,
00:07:10
things like getting
a verified profile, so you can prove that you are
the person in the pictures,
00:07:14
for instance. narrator:<i> Dating</i>
<i> apps have grown</i>
00:07:19
<i> in popularity across the UK.</i> <i> And between 2011</i>
<i> and 2016, police</i>
00:07:25
<i> recorded over 2,000 crimes</i>
<i> linked to online dating.</i>
00:07:31
Dario van der Kraken:
All dating apps, they have safety measures. All of them, they
have reporting tools,
00:07:35
blocking tools. So there is a lot
that people can potentially report on the app.
00:07:42
Honor Doro Townshend: However,
there are still risks involved. It could be that someone's
presenting themselves
00:07:47
as having a different job
to what they really do or having a totally different
personality to how they're
00:07:52
coming across to you online. You have to remember,
when you're talking to someone
online, people have time
00:07:58
to think about their response. They have time to craft exactly
what they're going to say
00:08:03
and how they want you
to feel in response to that. And that just means that people
have a lot of control over how
00:08:10
they're coming across. It means that people
can manipulate this. And they can present very
false versions of who they are,
00:08:17
which can create
really dangerous situations when you're
meeting up with people online.
00:08:23
narrator:<i> Gordon Semple was</i>
<i> unaware of the danger that</i>
00:08:26
<i> awaited him on April</i>
<i> 1, 2016, which at first</i>
00:08:30
<i> seemed like any other day.</i> Honor Doro Townshend: Gordon
Semple wakes up in his home
00:08:36
that he shares with Gary,
and he heads into Westminster. He's going for a meeting at the
Shangri-La restaurant, which
00:08:41
is in The Shard building. And he finishes that at around
12:30 in the afternoon.
00:08:48
narrator:<i> After Gordon</i>
<i> leaves the meeting,</i>
00:08:50
<i> he arranges to meet</i>
<i> a man he has been</i> <i> messaging on the Grindr app.</i>
00:08:55
Dario van der Kraken: Grindr
specifically is an app based on geolocalization. So when you log in, you
see all the profiles
00:09:02
that are connected
that are nearby sorted in order
of distance, so you can see which one are closest to you.
00:09:11
Suruthi Bala: Gordon
and Gary, they were in a loving,
committed relationship, but they had the freedom
to also explore sexual desires,
00:09:21
sexual activities with
other people outside of that relationship. In this particular case, with
what happened on April the 1st,
00:09:28
2016, however, it
does seem that Gary didn't know about
Gordon's plans to meet
00:09:34
up for that instant hookup. And I think it probably
speaks to the impulsivity of that meeting.
00:09:43
And it was a chance
encounter, somebody offering what he wanted. Honor Doro Townshend:
<i> Gordon Semple is</i>
00:09:51
<i> seen on CCTV at around</i>
<i> half past 12:00</i> <i> as he's leaving The Shard.</i>
00:09:55
<i> And then there's more CCTV, and</i>
<i> he's on Great Guildford Street</i>
00:09:58
<i> in Southwark.</i> <i> And that is the last CCTV</i>
<i> footage of Gordon Semple.</i>
00:10:08
<i> Gordon had been talking to</i>
<i> someone online about meeting up</i>
00:10:12
<i> for a casual sexual encounter.</i> <i> And when he's</i>
<i> seen in Southwark,</i>
00:10:16
<i> he's on the way to that</i>
<i> person's flat to meet up.</i>
00:10:19
<i> He doesn't know his real name.</i> <i> He doesn't really know anything</i>
<i> about this person's real life.</i>
00:10:25
- There are risks
with using these kind of social media apps. When you are meeting
up with a stranger
00:10:33
who you have no
idea who they are, you're going to their house. Honor Doro Townshend:
So he's kind of walking
00:10:38
into an unknown situation. When Gordon Semple arrived,
apparently, the person that he's been
communicating with
00:10:44
is using online dating apps
to try and find more people to join in this chemsex party.
00:10:49
Chemsex is essentially
any sexual activity where substances are
used with specifically
00:10:54
the intention of enhancing
the sexual experience. Essentially, all
drugs can be utilized
00:11:00
for the purpose of chemsex,
but there are those which are more commonly utilized.
00:11:05
And they tend to be
either stimulants or depressants, depending on
the intention behind their use.
00:11:10
Commonly used substances
include things like cocaine, GHB, and crystal meth. Colin Adwent: The man had
arranged for two other people
00:11:23
to come to this chemsex
party, as it was described. And before anybody else
got there, at some point,
00:11:30
he and Gordon were having sex. narrator:<i> At 7:00</i>
<i> PM that day, another</i>
00:11:35
<i> man who was invited to the</i>
<i> party arrives at the flat.</i>
00:11:39
Honor Doro Townshend:
Another participant who'd been invited along
to engage in this chemsex party
00:11:44
did arrive at the flat. They got a bit lost and
disorientated in the estate. But when they finally got up to
the door, they were knocking.
00:11:51
And at first, no
one came forward. And then they heard
a voice saying that someone's fallen
ill, and the chemsex
00:11:58
party is off and just go away. Now, the person who
came to the door said that he sounded
a bit stressed, but maybe
00:12:07
not particularly panicked. And he also said that he
thought he might hear someone
00:12:11
in the background
maybe being sick, but there was definitely
something going on.
00:12:14
But he didn't think
of it being anything more serious than maybe someone
had taken a bit too
00:12:18
much of something and was
feeling under the weather, so he left and went home. narrator:<i> Meanwhile,</i>
<i> Gordon's partner, Gary, has</i>
00:12:26
<i> been trying to contact him.</i> Honor Doro Townshend: Gary knew
that Gordon was supposed to be
00:12:31
on his way home that evening. And he tried to call
him a bunch of times. And he's not getting through.
00:12:38
Colin Adwent: So it was out
of character for Gordon not to communicate with his
partner particularly after work
00:12:43
or telling him
where he would be. So at that point, his
partner became concerned
00:12:49
and started to raise
the alarm and being fearful that something
had happened to Gordon.
00:12:54
And it was that evening
that Gary, Gordon's partner, reported him missing
to the police.
00:13:02
narrator:<i> As the evening</i>
<i> progresses</i> <i> with no sign of Gordon, his</i>
<i> loved ones become increasingly</i>
00:13:07
<i> worried for his welfare.</i> <i> Police begin searching for him.</i>
00:13:11
<i> Little do they</i>
<i> know, this search</i> <i> would lead to one</i>
<i> of the most disturbing</i>
00:13:15
<i> discoveries imaginable.</i> [audio logo] [audio logo] narrator:<i> On April</i>
<i> 1, 2016, 59-year-old</i>
00:13:36
<i> police officer Gordon</i>
<i> Semple is reported missing.</i>
00:13:39
<i> He is last seen on CCTV around</i>
<i> 12:30 PM near the South Bank</i>
00:13:44
<i> of the River Thames in London.</i> <i> When he does not return</i>
<i> home that evening,</i>
00:13:48
<i> his partner, Gary,</i>
<i> becomes concerned and</i>
00:13:51
<i> contacts the police.</i> Suruthi Bala:
Almost immediately, as soon as Gordon Semple
is reported missing,
00:13:57
the police do
start treating him as a very high-risk missing
person, which I have to say
00:14:01
isn't usually
the case, especially when an adult, particularly
an adult man, goes missing.
00:14:07
People are within
their rights to choose to disappear if they want to. But it was very, very obvious
that this was incredibly out
00:14:13
of character for Gordon Semple,
for him to not turn up to work, so immediately treated
as high profile.
00:14:19
And his family are
incredibly concerned. Colin Adwent: Gordon was
also a police officer.
00:14:24
That would have raised concerns
within the Metropolitan Police as well as to his
whereabouts and
00:14:30
what may have happened to him. - There was
a significant concern. Because of that concern,
there are also Facebook groups
00:14:38
that start to be made in the
search for Gordon, trying to raise awareness and find
out any information,
00:14:43
who's seen him,
where he's last been, all of that kind of stuff. And it is through
these Facebook groups
00:14:49
that the profile
starts to build and more people become aware
of this ongoing missing
00:14:54
person's case. [tense music] ♪ ♪ Colin Adwent: One
of the things that Facebook
00:15:01
does and posts on Facebook
is a two-fold thing, really. It's about trying
to find or the person
00:15:07
that is missing,
but also what it does is it does put an element
of pressure on the authorities
00:15:12
to ensure that they
respond to the concerns of people and worries. Suruthi Bala: And I
think that's why
00:15:20
this incredibly
out-of-character behavior is what elevated
the case so quickly to being so high profile.
00:15:26
narrator:<i> As the days</i>
<i> pass, investigators and</i>
00:15:28
<i> Gordon's loved ones</i>
<i> begin to fear the worst.</i>
00:15:31
<i> The case is passed on to the</i>
<i> homicide investigation team.</i>
00:15:36
Honor Doro Townshend:
On April 6, 2016, Gordon Semple is
officially listed as a high-risk missing person.
00:15:43
And it's at this point
that the Homicide and Major Crime Command unit of
the police take over the case.
00:15:49
The community
and Gordon's family must have been
extremely worried and concerned at this point.
00:15:54
It's been multiple
days with no contact. It's very out of character for
Gordon to disappear like this.
00:16:00
And now, even
just the knowledge that Major Crime and Homicides
at the Metropolitan Police
00:16:05
are now taking
over the case has got to fill them with such
fear and just panic over what's
00:16:11
happened to their loved one. And this is a case
that really started to have its impact
in the community,
00:16:18
because you've got
to remember as well, Gordon himself is
a police officer. And so the fact that
there's this sort of danger,
00:16:25
this risk that even
a police officer has sort of been subject to is
something that people
00:16:30
find really shocking. And it really impacts on
everyone's feeling of safety.
00:16:39
Nick Stocking: 30 years
ago, I applied to be a Metropolitan Police officer. I did a few years in the CID
in West End Central.
00:16:48
And from West End
Central, I then joined a murder
investigation team where I did 22 years until I retired.
00:16:57
All high-risk
missing persons come to murder investigation teams. If we've got more
contacts, we can
00:17:02
do a bit more advanced work. Gordon was the missing person. We looked into it. This CCTV officer, he went out,
and he looked at various areas.
00:17:18
And he was able
to find Gordon on CCTV, so we knew last
sightings was that area.
00:17:27
narrator:<i> Police obtained</i>
<i> the CCTV evidence on April 6,</i>
00:17:31
<i> five days after</i>
<i> Semple's disappearance.</i>
00:17:33
<i> Using cell phone</i>
<i> triangulation, they tracked</i>
00:17:36
<i> his mobile device nearby.</i> <i> Meanwhile, suspicion begins</i>
<i> to grow around the flat</i>
00:17:41
<i> of 49-year-old Stefano Brizzi</i>
<i> in the Peabody Estate when</i>
00:17:45
<i> investigators received reports</i>
<i> from his neighbors that</i>
00:17:47
<i> a disturbing smell has been</i>
<i> coming from his apartment</i>
00:17:51
<i> over the last few days.</i> Suruthi Bala: It
was about a week after Gordon went missing
that residents in the estate
00:18:00
started to notice
quite a horrific smell coming from one of the flats. And it was actually
the caretaker who
00:18:08
initially took note of this. And he actually is
so disturbed by this smell that he alerts another
resident to this.
00:18:17
That man was called
Martin Harris. And he happened to be
the neighbor that lived
00:18:20
directly above Stefano Brizzi. The two men go to the door,
and they agree. Yes, there is something.
00:18:26
There is some awful smell
coming from within the flat. And the caretaker
actually jumps
00:18:30
straight to the conclusion
that he thinks it is the smell of a dead body. And Martin Harris
actually says that he
00:18:36
was so freaked out by this that
he went back to his own flat to have a cigarette
out on his balcony.
00:18:43
And when he was there,
he's smoking a cigarette. He looks down over his balcony.
00:18:48
And he sees the resident
who's underneath him on his own balcony. And so he asks him, mate,
this is a very strange
00:18:55
smell coming from your room. What's going on? Colin Adwent: Brizzi
made an excuse,
00:19:00
saying that he was cooking
for a friend, which was quite a macabre thing to say.
00:19:10
Suruthi Bala:
The following day, when the smell didn't
dissipate, Martin Harris
00:19:13
came back to confront him. Honor Doro
Townshend: He notices that there's scented
candles placed outside that
00:19:20
have nearly fully burned down. Stefano Brizzi
comes to the door. And he's wearing aviators
and some pink Speedos.
00:19:27
And he says that he's been
cooking for his friends, and that's what the smell is.
00:19:31
And that's why he set
the candles out outside. But the neighbor's
not convinced.
00:19:36
- The neighbor obviously had
some sort of instinct or gut feeling that something
had gone on there
00:19:43
and was very, very concerned. narrator:<i> Upon reporting</i>
<i> Stefano Brizzi to the police,</i>
00:19:49
<i> a unit is sent out</i>
<i> to the Peabody Estate.</i>
00:19:52
[siren] Suruthi Bala: At around
1:00 PM, the police arrived at the estate. Now, these police officers
weren't homicide detectives.
00:20:11
They were actually just
ordinary beat cops. And I don't think
they could have
00:20:16
been in any way prepared for
what was going to happen when they arrived at this flat.
00:20:20
Immediately as soon as they
knocked on the door, Stefano Brizzi opened the door
dressed in pink Speedos and
00:20:26
Aviator sunglasses. Immediately very strange,
and then he opens his mouth. Colin Adwent: Brizzi told
the police officer that Satan
00:20:34
had told him to do it. And he decided the only
way to get rid of the body was to dismember it
and try and dissolve it so
00:20:43
that there was no trace left. Honor Doro Townshend:
When the police entered Brizzi's
apartment, they
00:20:48
were immediately
confronted with the smell and just the mess everywhere. Suruthi Bala: The scene
inside can only
00:20:56
be described as absolutely
horrific and very obvious that this man,
Stefano Brizzi, had
00:21:01
been trying very desperately
to dispose of a body. Honor Doro Townshend:
There are bones
00:21:07
and fragments of flesh and body
everywhere over this apartment. And it has to be one
of the most extreme and
00:21:15
horrific destructions
of a human body that the police will
ever have encountered.
00:21:23
[audio logo] [audio logo] [tense music] narrator:<i> On April 7, 2016, six</i>
<i> days after 59-year-old Gordon</i>
00:21:44
<i> Semple's disappearance, A 999</i>
<i> call comes from the Peabody</i>
00:21:48
<i> Estate in Southwark.</i> <i> Neighbors report a stench of</i>
<i> death emanating from the flat</i>
00:21:52
<i> of 49-year-old Stefano Brizzi.</i> <i> When officers arrive,</i>
<i> Brizzi casually tells them</i>
00:21:57
<i> that he has killed someone.</i> - When the police first
arrive and they speak to him,
00:22:03
his initial conversation with
them is very much a confession. He tells the police officers
that, I killed a man last week.
00:22:11
I spoke to Satan. And he kept telling
me, kill, kill, kill. And I told him, I would
at the next opportunity.
00:22:22
So they arrest Stefano
Brizzi and take him to Lewisham Police Station. narrator:<i> Stefano Brizzi</i>
<i> is taken into custody.</i>
00:22:29
<i> And police cordoned</i>
<i> off the flat,</i> <i> which is now a crime scene.</i>
00:22:33
<i> A full homicide</i>
<i> investigation team</i> <i> is dispatched to the location.</i>
00:22:37
Nick Stocking: His apartment
was on the first floor. We would have gone up
some stairs to get to it.
00:22:43
And then you walk along
a narrow walkway to his door. We would have gone
through his door.
00:22:50
And there was a strong
smell of chemicals. We had to have a special
unit to come out first
00:22:56
to make safe that
it was OK to go in. So myself and my colleague,
there was two of us
00:23:03
on this occasion. We went in to the premises
after getting ourselves suited. And then we started looking
around to see what we have
00:23:12
in sight to start off with. And then we start finding
stuff, which is, we believe,
00:23:18
is going to be relevant
for the investigation. Suruthi Bala: Inside
the flat, there is all sorts
00:23:23
of macabre things going on. There's bin bags full of bones. There's parts of skull
that they find.
00:23:31
In the bathroom,
the bathtub is filled with some blue, green, caustic
material and fat globules
00:23:38
that are just floating in it. It would later transpire
that Stefano Brizzi had been trying to dissolve
body parts in the bathtub.
00:23:47
narrator:<i> As investigators</i>
<i> comb through the apartment,</i>
00:23:50
<i> police obtained</i>
<i> nearby CCTV footage</i> <i> that shows Stefano Brizzi</i>
<i> purchasing supplies</i>
00:23:55
<i> to dispose of the body.</i> Colin Adwent: Brizzi
went to a local DIY store
00:24:01
to purchase various
things that he could use to dismember and
dissolve, such as chemicals,
00:24:10
tools, buckets. Suruthi Bala: There's even
a disturbing clip of him. You can see on the CCTV
footage of him putting
00:24:18
one of the buckets on his head,
which does rather morbidly feel like he was
checking to see if it
00:24:23
could fit a human head in it. Honor Doro Townshend:
This is simply one of the worst attacks
on the physical form
00:24:31
that is physically possible. Suruthi Bala: It only
became more disturbing when they inspected the kitchen.
00:24:37
They found DNA on various
kitchen utensils that were there. Honor Doro Townshend: There are
traces found in the blender,
00:24:44
in the oven. There are parts
of bones everywhere. Suruthi Bala: They
found evidence
00:24:50
of leg that seemed to show
signs of having been burned. But possibly worst
of all, they found
00:24:56
remains of bones that appeared
to have bite marks on them. And it did lead to speculation
that in his desperation
00:25:03
to dispose of this body,
that Stefano Brizzi may have actually ended up
consuming parts of the body.
00:25:12
narrator:<i> The homicide</i>
<i> unit prepares</i> <i> to catalog all available</i>
<i> evidence from the flat.</i>
00:25:17
<i> It is assumed that the remains</i>
<i> belong to Gordon Semple,</i>
00:25:20
<i> though a DNA test is</i>
<i> needed to confirm it.</i>
00:25:24
Nick Stocking: And it took
nearly two weeks for us to do the whole crime scene. We found a mobile phone
that belongs to the suspect.
00:25:33
We will bag it up. That would go
to the phones officer because we would class that
as being relevant evidence.
00:25:40
They can work on that. They obviously
intercepted his phone and data and everything else.
00:25:48
narrator:<i> A digital</i>
<i> forensics investigator</i>
00:25:50
<i> accesses Grindr</i>
<i> and the messages</i> <i> exchanged between Stefano</i>
<i> Brizzi and Gordon Semple.</i>
00:25:56
<i> These become key</i>
<i> pieces of evidence.</i> Suruthi Bala:
The police did find
00:26:01
a copy of The Satanic Bible
in Stefano Brizzi's flat. In the corners
of the book, he also made
00:26:06
little notes about himself. It is interesting that Stefano
Brizzi was, at the very least,
00:26:11
identifying with
something in there. - There was other items
in there like the saucepans,
00:26:19
the frying pans. It was quite clear
that there was fat all over it, bodily
fluids and stuff like that.
00:26:26
So again, we thought
that was relevant. So we had to basically think
outside the box for a box
00:26:34
to put some of this
stuff in because it wouldn't have fitted into our
normal boxes for exhibits.
00:26:40
He tried to dismember the body
to get rid of the body. As we know, he tried at first
to put it into a bath
00:26:47
and pour different
types of bleaches to try and dissolve the body. It didn't work.
00:26:54
So the next stage, we
believe, is that he either tried cooking it,
hence the fat being
00:27:00
everywhere, all over
the windows, over the floor. It was very slippery. Honor Doro Townshend: It's
one of the most extreme and
00:27:10
heinous destructions
of a human body that I've ever come across. Nick Stocking: Also, some of it
was flushed down the toilets,
00:27:20
so we had to call what we
classed as a pulser team to come in to look
at the drain, drain works.
00:27:27
And we found body flesh down
the drain works as well. narrator:<i> Investigators uncover</i>
<i> additional evidence suggesting</i>
00:27:35
<i> possible cannibalism intent.</i> <i> Brizzi had attempted</i>
<i> to dismember</i>
00:27:39
<i> body parts using a grater.</i> Nick Stocking: We noticed that
there was some items where
00:27:46
he couldn't grate the body. So rather than a small cheese
grater, which we found inside,
00:27:55
he adapted. And he went
to a local store and bought items, bits
of grill and stuff,
00:28:03
so he could bring back and,
again, use that for grating. Terrible way to go. But again, what I
thought was body parts,
00:28:17
we seized that, boxed it up. That went off to the lab
to be confirmed whether it
00:28:23
was human flesh or not. And it came back it was. narrator:<i> It soon</i>
<i> emerges that Brizzi</i>
00:28:30
<i> took steps to dispose of body</i>
<i> parts outside the flat.</i>
00:28:34
<i> Police receive</i>
<i> a disturbing 999 call.</i> Nick Stocking: A mudlarker
was on the Thames looking
00:28:42
for coins and bottles
and everything and came across some body
parts, contacted the police.
00:28:51
Because it wasn't too far
away from where the scene was, we attended there. And those parts
of the body, it turns out
00:28:58
it was part
of our investigation. Colin Adwent: A terrible scene
of a quite traumatic scene,
00:29:04
I would imagine, of devastation
in terms of body parts. Part of the leg or foot
was actually disposed
00:29:11
of in the river nearby. - Due to the condition
of those human remains, it will take some time
for formal identification
00:29:19
to take place. narrator:<i> Police</i>
<i> must first confirm</i>
00:29:23
<i> that the remains</i>
<i> belonged to Gordon Semple</i>
00:29:25
<i> before informing his</i>
<i> partner and family,</i>
00:29:27
<i> who anxiously await the news.</i> Colin Adwent: Because of the
state of this body, really,
00:29:33
in identifying who it
may be, the only way they managed
to identify him was in tracing his movements
back through CCTV
00:29:40
and his online footprint. Suruthi Bala:
The Grindr chat logs were able to really flesh out
this story of how these two
00:29:50
men met and the journey
they went on, the timeline, and how this ended
where it did.
00:29:58
Nick Stocking: Some
of us give our DNA when we first joined the police. The reason we do that,
and the reason I've done it,
00:30:04
was if you ever go into a crime
scene, and you happen to cough, and you do leave your evidence,
if you're-- all uniformed
00:30:13
officers who are
first on scene, they're not suited and booted,
so they could go in there.
00:30:17
They could touch something. So my advice is
obviously give your DNA because it just
eliminates a lot quicker.
00:30:24
There is a police officer's
database where they can eliminate or find things.
00:30:29
Gordon was part
of that database. The laboratory deal
with that side of it. So you would send
up, and it takes
00:30:37
a few days to establish
a DNA and compare it against another DNA. So within about
24 hours, we would
00:30:45
have known that
all the body parts coming out of the flat
and the Thames were what was left of Gordon.
00:30:53
Alison Newcomb:
This is a very sad day for Gordon's colleagues. There are many
officers who have
00:30:58
served with Gordon in London
during his 30-year career. My thoughts are with
Gordon's family and friends
00:31:06
at this personal
time of tragedy. narrator:<i> The murder of Gordon</i>
<i> Semple shocks police, family,</i>
00:31:14
<i> and the wider community.</i> <i> With Stefano Brizzi</i>
<i> in custody, the question</i>
00:31:18
<i> remains, what could drive a man</i>
<i> to commit such a heinous act?</i>
00:31:23
<i> And will he ever</i>
<i> reveal why he did it?</i> [audio logo]
00:31:32
[audio logo] [somber music] narrator:<i> Police have taken</i>
<i> Stefano Brizzi into custody</i>
00:31:43
<i> for the murder</i>
<i> and dismemberment</i> <i> of 59-year-old</i>
<i> Gordon Semple, whom</i>
00:31:47
<i> he met through a dating app.</i> <i> With their suspect</i>
<i> in custody, police now</i>
00:31:51
<i> face the urgent task</i>
<i> of learning everything</i>
00:31:54
<i> they can about Brizzi</i>
<i> and what could drive a man</i>
00:31:57
<i> to commit such a brutal crime.</i> - Stefano Brizzi,
at the time of the murder,
00:32:02
was a 49-year-old Italian
computer programmer. He was born in a small
town in Tuscany in Italy.
00:32:09
It was a very devout
Catholic household. Stefano Brizzi realized quite
early on that he was gay,
00:32:17
but he kept it a secret
for a very long time, no doubt fearing ostracization
within his family,
00:32:23
within his community. That would become
a lifelong theme for Brizzi, this idea
of maybe self-hatred,
00:32:30
a lot of conflicting feelings
about his own sexuality. And he struggles with it.
00:32:35
But he does well at school. He goes to university. He gets a very good degree. But it's always there.
00:32:43
Dario van der Kraken:
When he came out as gay, the family actually
rejected him,
00:32:48
which basically made
him feel a lot of shame, shame that he
carried with himself.
00:32:55
narrator:<i> In 2012,</i>
<i> Stefano Brizzi</i> <i> decides to leave his small</i>
<i> town life in Italy behind</i>
00:33:01
<i> and moves to London.</i> Suruthi Bala: Perhaps Brizzi
thought he could come to London
00:33:07
and sort of remove the shackles
of some of that guilt that he had been feeling
around his homosexuality.
00:33:13
Quite soon after
he's in London, he gets a job at Morgan Stanley
as a computer programmer.
00:33:19
And on the surface,
he's living the life. He's an incredibly intelligent,
very, very capable man,
00:33:26
working in a top investment
bank in the city of London, earning very good money.
00:33:30
And yeah, everything
is going his way. But there was
a pivotal moment when Stefano Brizzi was
diagnosed with hepatitis C
00:33:41
and also with HIV. And he does describe it himself
as a sort of punishment from God-- that's how he saw it--
00:33:50
for his homosexual desires. Honor Doro Townshend:
During this time, he was also
increasingly struggling
00:33:55
with substance abuse. And he had an addiction
to crystal meth. And this eventually became
such a problem that he lost
00:34:02
his job because of it in 2015. narrator:<i> These</i>
<i> events would send</i>
00:34:08
<i> Stefano into a downward spiral,</i>
<i> which got darker and darker.</i>
00:34:12
Colin Adwent: Gradually,
what evolved was he started researching things. And the more that
he got involved
00:34:19
in a lifestyle
of crystal meth and the dark areas
of the online world and then getting
more interested
00:34:28
in bondage sexual
fantasies, eventually, the darker side of his
character took over.
00:34:34
Brizzi developed
an interest in satanism, which was
the antithesis, really, of the Christian
values he grew up with.
00:34:43
Dario van der Kraken: Sometimes
when we have the shame, we try to find ways
to get rid of it.
00:34:49
And maybe looking
at satanism, he was looking
for something spiritual that he could find solace in.
00:34:56
Colin Adwent: He ended
up becoming the person that he was, which was
a respectable figure
00:35:03
cloaked within
somebody who ultimately was seen to be a monster. Dario van der Kraken: Brizzi
got into the vicious circle
00:35:12
where he tried to find
validation or just a bit of a feel-good moment
in this chemsex party, which
00:35:20
meant that he was
always on dating apps, organizing these sessions. This validation that you get,
this feel-good moment that you
00:35:28
get out of these parties,
they only last for a couple of hours, a couple of days.
00:35:32
And then you're back on them
trying to find the same thing. You're trying
to find another fix.
00:35:40
Suruthi Bala: When
the police first arrive and they speak to him, his
initial conversation with them
00:35:45
is very much a confession. He's talking about how
the devil, how Satan told him
00:35:50
to do it. But when he's interviewed
under caution, under the cold lights
of a police interview room,
00:35:57
he does seem
to change his story. I think one
of the things was very unusual was he seemed
to have been allowed
00:36:02
to keep on his
Aviator sunglasses while he was being interviewed,
which I've never seen before.
00:36:06
But once he's there,
he now stops saying that he did it for the devil. And actually, he
goes down the road
00:36:12
of beginning to claim that
this was just some sort of sexual game gone wrong. Dario van der Kraken:
Brizzi said he did it.
00:36:21
Gordon Semple was choked. He died out of asphyxiation
because of sexual practice
00:36:29
called erotic asphyxiation,
which is most commonly known as sexual choking. It sits on the riskier
side of the spectrum.
00:36:37
Suruthi Bala: And then,
in his panic afterwards, he had tried
to dispose of the body.
00:36:43
narrator:<i> The manner</i>
<i> in which Stefano disposed</i>
00:36:44
<i> of Gordon's body was shockingly</i>
<i> similar to his favorite TV</i>
00:36:48
<i> show.</i> Colin Adwent: One thing he
seemed to have in his mind was an affinity to the TV
series,<i> Breaking Bad.</i>
00:36:59
Honor Doro Townshend: Brizzi
utilized a couple of chemicals to try and dissolve
Gordon Semple's his body
00:37:04
when he was trying
to dispose of it. And this is something
that they believe he took from<i> Breaking</i>
<i> Bad</i> because this
00:37:10
happens in the show. So they believe
that he was inspired to try to dispose
of Gordon's body
00:37:16
because of what
he'd seen on TV. Nick Stocking: His mentality
was that he went to local shops
00:37:25
to go and buy items
for how to dispose rather than come forward like
a normal person would
00:37:34
and, say, call the police. He took it out of his way
to go and dispose of that body.
00:37:39
If it was an accident,
why didn't he call police straight away? narrator:<i> On the 9th</i>
<i> of April, 2016,</i>
00:37:49
<i> Stefano Brizzi is charged with</i>
<i> the murder of Gordon Semple.</i>
00:37:52
<i> His trial takes place</i>
<i> in October that same year.</i>
00:37:56
Honor Doro Townshend: In court,
Brizzi pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
00:38:00
He tried to maintain
that this was the act of a sex
game gone wrong and that the death
itself was unintentional.
00:38:07
Though the latter
destruction of the body, he did admit guilt for. Rough sex or sex
game gone wrong
00:38:14
is something that
has been presented multiple times before in courts
of law as a defense for murder.
00:38:21
However, this is
something that, I think, can be massively misused. Because the reality
is whilst engaging
00:38:28
in consensual rough
sex or BDSM is entirely possible between two
adults, you can't
00:38:34
consent to your own death. And so level
of extreme violence that it requires
to commit a murder
00:38:43
goes beyond
potential consensual, fun sexual activities. The reality is, when
you choke someone,
00:38:50
they'll pass out after
20 or 30 seconds, but then it'll take
a long while for them
00:38:57
to die after that. If you're still continuing with
that level of aggression and
00:39:01
violence after that point
of someone passing out, then I don't personally
believe that that
00:39:06
is valid as any form of excuse
because, at that point, you're now causing harm.
00:39:11
And there's intention
behind that. Colin Adwent: Grindr
logs were a crucial part
00:39:17
of the evidence
of the prosecution case because they showed
the online footprint.
00:39:22
And they showed the contact
between Gordon Semple and Stefano Brizzi. Suruthi Bala: Everything that
was connecting these men, how
00:39:30
they made that
first connection, the plan they had
to meet, Gordon Semple coming to the house.
00:39:35
And I think this is,
again, adding to the case against Stefano Brizzi. Because while some people may
look at this case and think,
00:39:42
OK, he didn't mean to do this. I could believe that he
didn't mean to do this.
00:39:46
It was an accident. But even if he
could have stopped and he didn't, the man
was incredibly high
00:39:51
on drugs at the time. And there is
absolutely an argument to be made for what is
a very real condition,
00:39:57
something called
meth-induced psychosis. But then, you look
at the other pieces of evidence
00:40:03
that really, for me,
fly in the face of that. The fact that Stefano
Brizzi went on to Grindr,
00:40:09
and he was inviting other
men to come join them at this chemsex party,
and when one of those men
00:40:13
does respond and turn
up at 7 o'clock, well, Stefano
Brizzi now doesn't seem to be a man who's having
a total psychotic break
00:40:19
from reality because he's
very able to calmly speak to this man and tell
him to go away
00:40:25
because somebody's
been sick inside, and he's dealing with it. So for me, to say,
he's gone from having
00:40:30
a total psychotic break
in which he kills Gordon to then being able to very
calmly send this man away,
00:40:35
I don't know. The two don't really
add up for me. Colin Adwent: His
defense basically
00:40:41
revolved around that Gordon's
death was accidental. However, having
said to the police
00:40:46
prior to that, when police
turned up at his flat, that he had killed Gordon after
meeting him on Grindr and Satan
00:40:52
had told him to do
it, the judge rejected Brizzi's plea that
basically this was an accident.
00:40:59
And because of that, he was
convicted of murder by the jury and the judge
on the basis of he
00:41:05
murdered Gordon
and intended to do so. He was given a minimum
term of 24 years in jail.
00:41:12
But ultimately, he
had a mandatory life imprisonment sentence. He was serving his sentence
at the time at Belmarsh Prison,
00:41:20
which is in London. And in February 2017, he
was found dead in his cell. Subsequently, a coroner's
court concluded
00:41:31
that he'd taken his own life. narrator:<i> This</i>
<i> horrific case shows</i>
00:41:36
<i> how social media can</i>
<i> both facilitate a crime</i>
00:41:38
<i> and help solve it.</i> Colin Adwent: I think
the online world is
00:41:43
a force for good, but it
also can be a force that can be used for very bad things.
00:41:51
Suruthi Bala: There
are risks with using these kind of social
media apps, using these kind
of dating apps.
00:41:59
When you are meeting
up with a stranger who you have no
idea who they are, you're going
to their house, that
00:42:05
is one of the most shocking
things with this case, is the speed from which Stefano
Brizzi and Gordon Semple went
00:42:11
from being strangers who
had no clue about each other to being murder
victim and murderer.
00:42:18
That is absolutely
expedited by apps like this. Dario van der Kraken:
The positive aspects
00:42:23
of online dating is you are
connected to a pool of people that you wouldn't
otherwise meet,
00:42:27
so you have a lot of choice. And that is great. I teach my clients that there
are a few signs that you
00:42:34
have to be looking out for. Predators, normally,
they tend to rush people into making decisions
because they
00:42:40
know that when they
shorten the gap between the request
and the decision, that's when mistakes happen.
00:42:46
So that's when people
are most vulnerable. Suruthi Bala: We are seeing,
sadly, an increase in crimes
00:42:54
like this being facilitated
through apps like Grindr and also through social
media in general.
00:42:59
But simultaneously,
we're also seeing the rise of the use
of social media in helping the police
solve these kind of crimes.
00:43:09
When people become
victims in cases like this that are particularly
brutal, headline-grabbing,
00:43:14
incredibly salacious,
we can forget that these people have families
who love them, who miss them.
00:43:21
And Gordon's niece,
for example, Kerry Nicholas, she immediately set
up a Facebook group
00:43:25
when her uncle went missing. A testament to how loved Gordon
was is that within a few days,
00:43:31
thousands of people had
joined this Facebook group, all looking for where he was.
00:43:35
Dario van der Kraken:
And I think actually social media had a great
role in that because it
00:43:40
gave the case more visibility. And that probably made the case
being picked up by the police
00:43:45
sooner than it would
have otherwise been. Suruthi Bala: It is a tragic
story in many, many ways.
00:43:51
Honor Doro Townshend:
He was described by his family and friends
as a much loved brother,
00:43:57
partner, uncle, cousin. We have this huge community
and family around him, and he was very well loved.
00:44:09
- He was a man who would try
and do anything for anyone. He was kind,
considerate, and would
00:44:16
just be there to help others. [suspenseful music] ♪ ♪