THE movements of five murder suspects was identified by the forensic analysis of their digital footprint, jurors have heard.

Detectives were able to trace the mobile phones and vehicles connected to the gang of people accused of killing Tomasz Dembler during a violent assault.

The 39-year-old was kicked and stamped on before having his hands cut off following his death in the early hours of March 21 last year.

The Northern Echo: Tomasz DemblerTomasz Dembler

Zbigniew Pawlowski, 41, of Leven Street, Newport, Middlesbrough; Rafal Chmielewski, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; Tomasz Reczycki, 37, of Ashfield Avenue, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough; Monika Solerska, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; and Adam Czerwinski, 45, of Edward Street, North Ormesby, all deny murder.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Cleveland Police carried out a painstaking trawl through CCTV, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and mobile phone data to place the suspects in and around the house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, at the time of the alleged murder.

The information was also used to place them at the burial site in woodland near to Flatts Lane Country Park.

The Northern Echo: The woodland where Mr Dembler's body was discoveredThe woodland where Mr Dembler's body was discovered

Victoria Workman, who worked as an analyst for Cleveland Police during the murder investigation, told the court there was some dispute over who was using an unregistered mobile phone in the vicinity of the shallow grave when Mr Dembler’s body was dumped.

Pawlowski and Solerska admit being in a Mercedes which was used to pick up the ‘burial party’ but Chmielewski denies that it was him using the unregistered mobile phone used to make the call once the body was disposed of in the shallow grave.

The Northern Echo: The house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, where Mr Dembler was killedThe house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, where Mr Dembler was killed

His barrister, Sharon Beattie QC, said: “Rafal Chmielewski – it will be his case that he was not at the burial site.”

The judge, Mrs Justice Mary Stacey, clarified the position for the jurors, saying: “He says he wasn’t at the burial site, so he couldn’t have been picked up from there.”

Ms Workman said the mobile phone or SIM card used to make the pick-up call has never been traced by detectives.

The trial continues.

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