Butcher who killed girlfriend and buried her body parts in garden jailed for life

A poultry butcher who cut her girlfriend’s body in half and buried her in a garden has received a life sentence.

Anna Podedworna, 40, murdered Izabela Zablocka and used electrical tape to tie her up ‘like a chicken’ before burying her bin bag-wrapped corpse in a ‘filthy, makeshift grave’.

She was handed a minimum term of 21 years at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday – more than fifteen years after the 2010 killing.

Podedworna and Ms Zablocka, both from Poland, moved to the UK together in 2009 and lived together in Normanton, Derby.

In June last year, police officers found 30-year-old mother-of-one Ms Zablocka’s remains buried beneath concrete hardstanding in the garden of a terraced home in Normanton.

Podedworna, described as a skilled butcher, claimed she hit Ms Zablocka over the head in self-defence after her partner tried to strangle her during a row at their home.

But rather than call an ambulance, jurors heard how she took two weeks off from work to complete the ‘gruesome and time-consuming’ task of disposing of her body.

Meanwhile, Ms Zablocka’s family were left heartbroken by her sudden disappearance and did not hear from her after August 2010. Podedworna denied knowing where she was at the time.

Katarzyna Zablocka, Ms Zablocka’s daughter, who stayed in Poland when her mother moved to the UK, was left to grow up without a mum.

She said in a statement that she had spent her entire adult life ‘looking for answers’ about the disappearance.

Katarzyna said she was ‘incredibly close’ to her mum who ‘vanished from my life without a single word of explanation’.

‘This sudden void left a deep wound in my psyche that has stayed with me to this day,’ she said.

‘In my heart I always felt that my mother did not leave me on purpose. I remembered how much she loved me when I was little.’

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said: ‘Your crimes and Izabela’s gruesome fate only came to light in 2025.

‘As a result of your violent, manipulative and cruel actions, Katarzyna grew up not knowing what happened to her beloved mother.

‘Your actions caused untold misery and trauma to Izabela’s family who were left with no idea where she was or what had befallen her.”

She added: ‘I am sure you killed her in anger and frustration rather than when you were attacked by her.’

Podedworna was convicted of murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice on Tuesday after a three-week trial.

Podedworna, herself a mum-of-two, told the jury that she was protecting herself when she hit Ms Zablocka with a horse figurine.

Ms Zablocka had presented as a man but could not afford gender reassignment surgery, which caused tension between the couple, the court heard.

Prosecutor Gordon Aspden KC had said that Podedworna faced ‘mounting pressure’ after a Polish television journalist flew to the UK to interview her.

This caused the killer to “crack”, he said, and email the police last year.

The prosecutor explained how Podedworna covered up the murder with a series of ‘deliberate, calculated, gruesome and time-consuming acts’.

She took two weeks off work from a poultry factory called Cranberry Foods in Scropton, Derbyshire.

Her work in the factory involved ‘skinning, deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife’, the prosecutor had said.

In a statement released by police, Ms Zablocka’s daughter added: ‘I felt subconsciously that she must have had some sort of accident, or something bad must have happened.

‘Even if she had ended up homeless, she would have still managed to make contact with me and my grandma.

‘But I never expected that the search for my mum would have ended in these circumstances.

‘It is heartbreaking, but I do also feel a great sense of satisfaction because I never gave up, and if it wasn’t for that determination to find out the truth, we wouldn’t be in the place we are now. I never gave up.’

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