from www.bbc.co.uk – A man accused of murdering a Polish woman he shared a house with viewed extreme pornography on a computer before her death, a court heard.

Sylwia Ciapcinska’s [pictured] remains were found inside a suitcase in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire last September, two months after she went missing.

Tomasz Sobczak, who lived with the victim in the town, is also alleged to have searched the internet for “how to strangle a human being”.

The 29-year-old denies murder.

Birmingham Crown Court was told that a computer belonging to Mr Sobczak had also been used to view a webpage giving details of Polish serial killers.

Ms Ciapcinska, known as Magda to friends, disappeared from the home that she shared with her alleged killer, in Ash Street, on 20 July last year.

The court has been told that her body was found taped up inside the suitcase, which was found by the River Trent in Burton by passers by.

Prosecutor Christopher Hotten, QC, said an Acer computer belonging to Sobczak, a factory worker from Poland, was examined after his arrest.

“The internet browsing history (of the laptop) was examined with, we say, significant results,” he said.

“In the day or two leading up to the killing, he (Sobczak) had been viewing not only pornography, but also sites relating to strangulation.”

It had been used to access “hardcore and explicit” pornography, particularly on 19 July, he added.

“At about nine o’clock on 19 July – the night before the day on which Magda was last seen – the user of Mr Sobczak’s Acer computer searched on Google using the Polish which means ‘strangling’.

“Shortly afterwards, the user searched a phrase in Polish, which translated into English means: ‘How to strangle a human being’.”

Other searches found on the laptop looked at how long a person can survive without air, the court heard.

The trial continues.

from www.dailymail.co.uk – A Polish factory worker accused of murdering his housemate and disposing of her body in a suitcase had used his laptop to Google ‘how to strangle a human being’ in the hours before she was last seen alive.

Tomasz Sobczak, 29, who denies the murder of Sylwia Ciapcinska, is also alleged to have viewed extreme ‘torture porn’ videos on the internet and visited a website called ‘Polish Serial Killers’.

Birmingham Crown Court heard how 24-year-old Miss Ciapcinska’s partially-clothed body was found near a river almost two months after the Polish national disappeared from her home in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on July 20 last year.

Opening the case against Sobczak, prosecutor Christopher Hotten QC said Miss Ciapcinska, a university graduate known to friends as Magda, had been living in the UK for less than a month when she is alleged to have been killed.

Continuing his opening address, which began yesterday, Mr Hotten told jurors that an Acer computer belonging to Sobczak had been examined after his arrest.

‘The internet browsing history (of the laptop) was examined with, we say, significant results,’ said Mr Hotten.

‘In the day or two leading up to the killing, he (Sobczak) had been viewing not only pornography, but also sites relating to strangulation.’

The computer belonging to Sobczak, of Burton, had been used to access ‘hardcore and explicit’ pornography, particularly on the night of July 19, Mr Hotten alleged.

The Crown claims Sobczak, also searched the internet for ‘what a death cell looks like’.

Mr Hotten alleged: ‘At about nine o’clock on July 19 – the night before the day on which Magda was last seen – the user of Mr Sobczak’s Acer computer searched on Google using the Polish which means ‘strangling’.

‘Shortly afterwards, the user searched a phrase in Polish, which translated into English means: “How to strangle a human being”.’

Other searches were also found on Sobczak’s computer, Mr Hotten added, including an apparent attempt to establish how long a person can survive without air.

In the early hours of July 21, the court heard, the computer was used to look at a website entitled ‘Polish Serial Killers, Part Three’.

Further details of the discovery of Miss Ciapcinska’s body and the evidence against Sobczak were outlined to the jury during the opening of the prosecution case.

The jury was shown computer-generated images of the positioning of the victim’s body when it was found on September 17 in an area near Burton town centre known locally as the Washlands.

Tape which matched that used at Sobczak’s workplace was found on the body, which was bound up into a ‘foetal’ position and wrapped in plastic sheeting, the court heard.

It is also alleged that six fingerprints matching Sobczak’s were discovered on tape used to bind together a box which contained Miss Ciapcinska’s passport.

The box was found in the attic of the property where Sobczak and Miss Ciapcinska lived, near a loft hatch hook allegedly bearing a partial DNA profile matching the defendant.

Mr Hotten further alleged that Sobczak, a married father-of-two who was in debt, ’emptied’ Miss Ciapcinska’s bank account by using her debit card on both July 20 and 21.

Concluding his opening remarks, Mr Hotten suggested that the teaching and psychology graduate was killed at their shared property.

He said: ‘We say it’s overwhelmingly likely that she was killed some time on the afternoon of the 20th of July.

‘At some point thereafter, her body was placed into the suitcase and taken and placed at the deposition site.’

The case continues.