Kirill Belorusov, 32 has been found guilty of murdering French film producer Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, in London
Chilling CCTV stills capture a stuntman who had just murdered his film producer ex-girlfriend shopping for an axe and bin bags to dispose of her body.
Kirill Belorusov, 32,was today at the Old Bailey of strangling Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, to death and burying her body in the garden of her flat in Kew, southwest London.
His murder trial heard earlier that the self-described stuntman, who claimed to have been in Brad Pitt film World War Z, strangled his naked girlfriend before burying her in a flowerbed because “she was a problem that had to be removed”.
Belorusov throttled Garcia-Bertaux with a ligature before binding her feet and hands behind her back.
He then went shopping at a Homebase store for an axe, rubber clogs, rubble sacks and compost to dispose of her body.
Belorusov wrapped his victim’s body in bin bags before burying her beneath a thin coating of soil in the garden of her flat before settling down to watch porn videos.
Chilling CCTV stills show murderer Kirill Belorusov buying an axe, rubber clogs, rubble sacks and compost from a Homebase store after he murdered his ex.
Berlorusov then lived at her home in March this year while her friends frantically searched for her.
He continued to text them in a bid to cover his tracks before fleeing to Estonia.
He denied murder after being arrested in the capital Tallinn under a European arrest warrant and was brought back to the UK to face trial.
His murder trial at the Old Bailey heard Belorusov likened to a ‘Bond villain’ by his own barrister after he admitted he had ‘psychologically waterboarded’ Garcia-Bertaux, who he described as his ‘product’.
Belorusov, the son of an Estonian policeman, worked in bars and nightclubs but claimed to have been a stuntman and a casino bodyguard for high rollers.
In the days before her murder, Belorusov promised Garcia-Bertaux they could move into a new house together, even while he was manipulating a string of other women.
The court heard he met Ms Garcia-Bertaux in 2009, but the couple split up in 2017, after she complained that he was a “slob” and would “needle her about her weight”.
He won back her sympathy by pretending he was being treated for cancer.
In November last year she begged him to give her the money in a text message which said: “I don’t think you realise how bad the situation is! I can barely pay my rent this month and food for myself and the dogs!”
Belorusov travelled to London in March on the pretext of helping his ex-partner move home, after lying about finding her a new flat.
His hold over her was so complete that he she excitedly texted her friends about her new home while sending him the nude pictures of herself he demanded.
He had been promising to send her the address to the flat for weeks and murdered her when he ran out of lies and the victim became ‘a problem that had to be removed’.
He crept up on his naked victim from behind before strangling her with ‘brutal and clinical precision’.
He used Garcia-Bertaux’s internet provider to access material on PornHub on the day of her death on March 3.
Later he was captured on CCTV buying items including an axe and rubble sacks in Homebase to dispose of her body, jurors heard.
Belorusov then texted his victim’s friends using her phone pretending to be her in order to cover his tracks before he fled to Estonia, jurors heard during the trial.
One message said: “I went to see the house it’s BEAUTIFUL! And Kirill gave me another £7,000 so I’m going on a shopping spree… And he transferred another £10,000 a week ago… And he left…Housewarming party is coming real soon…So hot tub and boob lift.”
He had previously bragged of his knowledge of death holds to Garcia-Bertaux, and choked her until she almost passed out when they worked together at a London nightclub.
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC said the killing took three to four minutes: “The last few minutes of Ms Garcia-Bertaux’s life must have been truly terrifying as this defendant squeezed the very life out of her, and as she struggled for her final breath, there must have been a moment of terrible clarity when she realised that the man she cared for was a liar, a cheat and a killer. ”
A victim impact statement read on behalf of Laureline’s mother Frederique Bertaux said: “The death of one’s own child goes against nature.
“There is not a moment during the day I don’t think of my Laureline. I can’t touch her, I can’t kiss her anymore. I watch videos of her just to hear her voice, hear her laugh, to see how she moves.
“I would give anything to hear her happy moments, sad moments, and to hear her say ‘mum I love you’.
“It’s incredibly hard to begin to describe my sorrow, my heartbreak.”
No trace could be found of Belorosuv’s claims to have worked on World War Z on IMDB.
Garcia-Bertaux worked in PR at the time of her death, but had also worked as a producer in the television and film industry and had worked with Dame Joan Collins on the 2018 short film Gerry.
The actress said she was “shocked by the horrifying news” after hearing of her death.
Jurors found Belorusov guilty today after deliberating for two hours.
He will face a life sentence for Garcia-Bertaux’s murder.
