Jemma Mitchell

Jemma Mitchell was born and raised in Australia to English parents, who worked for the UK Commonwealth office. After the parents marriage breakdown Jemma along with her mother and sister moved back to the UK.

Jemma shared a house with her mother and sister, in Willesden, north west London; the property was worth over £4 million, and had been owned by the family for several generations. The house was in a bad state of repair, and needed extensive works to be done. 

2004, Jemma went to university to study for a Human Sciences degree. She excelled at anatomy, and at one stage had to dissect a human body, she was awarded a first class honours degree. She then trained as an osteopath, returned to Australia were she set up in business as an osteopath.

2015, she returned to the UK but was not registered, so could not practice in the UK, she was unemployed. She became obsessed with the bible, religion, and demons.

2016, Jemma had a bad relationship with her sister, and had a conviction for breaching a non-molestation order relating to her sister and brother-in-law; she was given a conditional discharge for the offence by North West London Magistrates' Court.

April 2018, Jemma Mitchell was one of the congregation which gathered for divine healing at a North London church. Making her way to the front of the hall in Hampstead Garden Suburb, Jemma announced to the 300 evangelical Christians present that she wanted to be exorcised of her demons. As the pastor leading the service placed his hands on her head, she began to shake and cry, then screamed hysterically before falling dramatically to the floor.

August 2020, Jemma met Mee Kuen Chong, also known as Deborah Chong, at a church they both went to. The pair were both very religious, and Mitchell had become obsessed with demons and exorcism, and picked on Deborah to practice.

Described as having a sweet and childlike nature Deborah, who was originally from Malaysia had been in the UK for 30-years. She had mental health problems, and was on anti-psychotic medication for paranoid schizophrenia.

Friends later reported that Deborah believed that Jemma Mitchell was "curing" her illness with spiritual healing, and exorcism. Her mental illness left her believing she was having a relationship with Prince Charles. Before her death she had been exhibiting unusual and erratic behaviour, and was referred to her local community mental health team for sending letters to Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mitchell and her mother planned to make improvements to their house, adding another floor to the house, but were cheated out of £230,000 by two builders they had hired for the project. Deborah Chong agreed to give Mitchell £200,000, but Chong later withdrew the offer, and urged Mitchell to sell the house and "enjoy" the money instead.

11th June 2021, Mitchell travelled to Deborah Chong's house in Wembley, north London, carrying a large blue suitcase. Jemma Mitchell killed Chong and put her body in the suitcase, breaking Chong's ribs in the process. 

Mitchell also stole documents from Deborah Chong's house, and along with documents stolen from a recently-deceased neighbour, she attempted to use them to forge a will leaving the bulk of Chong's £700,000 estate to herself. 

Deborah was reported missing by her lodger on 12th June, when Mitchell was questioned by police as to Chong's whereabouts, she said Chong had gone to stay with family friends "somewhere close to the ocean"as she had been feeling "depressed".

Mitchell kept the suitcase containing the body in the garden of the house she shared with her mother for two weeks.

26th June 2021,, she drove 200 miles to Salcombe in Devon to dispose of the body, and dumped it on a woodland path.

27th June 2021, The victim’s headless body was discovered by a family out walking

1st July 2021,  A police search found the head four days later, around 33 feet away from the rest of the body

Chong's body was too badly decomposed to determine a cause of death, but a post mortem found that Chong had received a fracture to the skull.

6th July 2021, Jemma Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of murder, during questioning she answered 'No Comment' to all questions.

10th July 2021, Mitchell appeared at Willesden magistrates court charged with murder, and remanded into custody.

11th October 2022, Trial starts in courtroom number 12 at The old Bailey, Mitchell pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.

27th October 2022, after seven hours of deliberation the jury found Jemma Mitchell guilty of the murder of Mee Kuen (Deborah) Chong.

Friday 28th October 2022, at The Old Bailey in London, Jemma Mitchell is sentenced to serve life imprisonment, with a minimum 34-years behind bars. This was the second case where TV cameras were allowed into the courtroom, to protect the jury and witrnesses only the judge was filmed.

Mitchell is eligible to apply for parole in October 2056.

<< See the Judges sentencing remarks Here >>

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