A woman who played a key role in disposing of the body of a man beaten to death and buried in isolated woodland has failed in her bid to have her prison sentence reduced.
Monika Solerska reconnoitred the burial site on at least two occasions before Tomasz Dembler’s body was buried in a shallow grave at Flatts Lane Country Park in Middlesbrough in March last year.
The 38-year-old helped her boyfriend killer, Rafal Chmielewski, and Zbigniew Pawlowski, clean up the house where the father-of-one was savagely beaten to death before they chopped his hands off and stuffed his body inside a suitcase.
The 39-year-old’s mutilated body was discovered a month later when two teenage girls spotted his toes sticking out of the ground and alerted the police.
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Teesside Crown Court had heard how Mr Dembler, who had links to Darlington, was killed within days of moving into a house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough.
Solerska, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, was branded a liar by the judge as she sentenced her to five years and six months.
Justice Mary Stacey DBE, said: “You were most closely involved in the post mortem activities of all three of you, providing crucial transport to and from the burial site, cunningly using different routes, and trying to limit your visibility by limiting your mobile phone use.”
In the Court of Appeal in London, Solerska’s barrister Richard Herrman argued that the sentence was excessive and ignored the fact that at no time did she actually physically touch the body.
Peter Makepeace KC, who prosecuted the original case, told the panel of judges that Solerska’s sentence fairly reflected her role in the disposal of Mr Dembler’s body and her efforts to clean up the scene at Edward Street.
Mr Makepeace said the manslaughter was one of the worst cases of its kind that a court was ever likely to hear.
Lord Justice Mark Warby ruled that Justice Stacey’s original sentence was fair as he rejected Solerska’s appeal.
He said: “The operation to dispose of the body and destroy evidence was ‘chillingly slick, efficient and callous’ and this operation was organised by Rafal Chmielewski but the appellant was busy ferrying him to and from the burial site.
“It was not possible to identify who had played what part in the clean up operation the appellant was doing all in her power to ensure Mr Dembler’s death never came to light.”
The pair pleaded guilty to manslaughter midway through their trial charged with murder.
During the trial, jurors had heard how Mr Dembler suffered a catalogue of injuries after being repeatedly kicked, punched, and stamped on.
Solerska; Tomasz Reczycki; and Adam Czerwinski, all pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by helping to dispose of the body.
Czerwinski, of Edward Street, North Ormesby, was jailed for five years for his role in the clean-up.
While Reczycki, 37, of Ashfield Avenue, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison as ‘he was the first to break ranks’ the judge said.
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