Man ‘killed artist and kept body in freezer for three years’Telegraph reportersThu, November 5, 2026 at 1:18 AM UTC
Artist Delia McInerney was staying with George Gordon before her death - PA
A man killed his artist “soulmate” and kept her dismembered body in a freezer with her pet guinea pigs for almost three years, a murder trial heard.
George Gordon, 65, is alleged to have murdered Delia McInerney in April 2023, days before she was due to move to Portugal for a “new life”, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday.
Mr Gordon denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
The trial heard Ms McInerney, who was 62 at the time of her death, stayed with Mr Gordon at his flat in St Helens, Merseyside, when she was not travelling abroad or at her house in Anfield, Liverpool.
Martin Reid KC, prosecuting, told the jury Ms McInerney’s body had been found by police in a chest freezer at Mr Gordon’s flat on January 8.
Mr Reid said that after her death, Mr Gordon had posed as his alleged victim in messages and emails to her friends.
He told the jury: “Unbeknown to them, but known very well to the defendant, Delia McInerney had died in April 2023, at the defendant’s hands. Her dismembered body was found in a chest freezer in the defendant’s flat on January 8 this year.
“In the meantime, the defendant fraudulently obtained thousands of pounds from her bank accounts, and obtained a loan and credit cards in her name.”
Mr Gordon, who did not appear in the dock, admits killing Ms McInerney, described by a relative as his “soulmate”, but initially told police he had hit her with a hammer to “end her suffering” after she had taken an overdose.
He has now claimed he acted in self-defence, Mr Reid said.
Delia McInerney had been preparing to move to Portugal with her guinea pigs in April 2023 - PA
The court heard Ms McInerney, who had concerns about 5G phone masts close to her home in Anfield, had been planning to move to Portugal with her guinea pigs in April 2023.
Mr Reid said that, after hearing of her plans to relocate, Mr Gordon had bought items, including a sledgehammer and a handsaw, which were “consistent with those that would later be used, or required, to kill and dismember Ms McInerney”.
He had also collected prescriptions for medications later found in her system, the jury was told.
On April 11, Mr Gordon filmed a video of Ms McInerney with her guinea pigs, which was the last known footage of her alive.
Mr Reid said: “These, the Crown says, are the same five guinea pigs that Ms McInerney was planning to take to Portugal just two days later, and of which she was so fond. They were, the prosecution says, to meet the same fate as their owner Ms McInerney.”
Examinations of the guinea pigs had showed they died by drowning, the jury heard.
The court heard that upon his arrest, George Gordon told officers: ‘She’s in the freezer.’ - Liverpool Echo
Mr Gordon, who was known as Chris to Ms McInerney and their friends, is accused of murdering his friend on the evening of April 11 or in the early hours of April 12.
Later on April 12, more than £2,000 was sent from Ms McInerney’s bank accounts to Mr Gordon, the jury was told.
The court heard he then went to The Sefton Pub for breakfast, accompanied by a pint of Strongbow cider and a double whisky, before ordering a chest freezer from Amazon.
Mr Reid said Mr Gordon, who travelled to Portugal on April 24 and visited the property Ms McInerney owned there, posed as Ms McInerney in messages to her friends and neighbours.
He told some of her friends she had been taken ill, while others were told she had gone to the King’s coronation in May 2023 with Mr Gordon, where she claimed they had met Dame Joanna Lumley and Sir Stephen Fry in Westminster Abbey.
Mr Reid said: “This ridiculous account would almost be amusing were it not for the knowledge that all this time, rather than meeting famous actors at the King’s coronation, Ms McInerney’s body was lying in a chest freezer in the defendant’s flat in St Helens.”
He told the court that Mr Gordon’s “web of lies” had begun to unravel in December 2025, after a request was made to the Department for Work and Pensions by someone called Chris Cavendish-Gordon, who claimed to be a social worker, asking for Ms McInerney’s personal independence payment to be transferred to a different account.
The jury was told that, after telephone inquiries and financial checks, Mr Gordon had been arrested at his flat and that, as he was escorted out, he had told officers “she’s in there” and “she’s in the freezer”.
The trial continues.
Source: Crime
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