Chilling CCTV footage showing an alleged murderer dragging a suitcase apparently containing his ex-girlfriend's dead body has been released by police.
The video, which has been shown to a jury at Exeter Crown Court, appears to show Kostadin Kostov hauling a suitcase on Sidwell Street, York Road, and Pennsylvania Road in Exeter and periodically stopping to take breaks, according to detectives.
The court heard that 'controlling and jealous' Kostov killed his ex-partner Gergana Prodanova, 38,
before stuffing it in the case, wheeling it through the city and dumping it near train tracks.
Ms Prodanova, who was the mother of their three children, was reported missing on August 4 last year from the home she shared with Kostov.
She was found dead two weeks later. Kostov denies killing her.
It is apparent he stops and rests throughout the whole journey. He is waiting for people to leave the area, and is resting and tired, in our opinion.'
During the opening of the trial on April 20, Simon Laws, QC, prosecuting, said the couple had been in a relationship for 15 years prior to Ms Prodanova moving to Exeter, Devon, in December 2015.
He said: 'It was a complex and very troubling relationship. He had used physical violence against her on a number of occasions.
'He was a jealous and controlling man. He would lose his temper, especially when he had had a drink, and he would hit her.
'She stuck with him for many years. She seems to have found it very hard to break free from him.'
He said the prosecution case was that she was killed there on the evening of August 4 by Kostov because he was jealous of her new relationship.
'On August 4 last year Gergana Prodanova disappeared in Exeter,' said Mr Laws.
'She had not been in this country very long but she had made a small circle of friends and she had started a relationship with a man called Tihomir Todorov.
'She had a job and she was a dependable employee, so her new friends and her colleagues were surprised at her disappearance.
'Then messages were sent by text and Facebook that looked as if they came from her.
Mr Laws also said Prodanova had her clothes cut up with scissors by Kostov after a row in May, three months before she was killed
'Police found that clothing he had tried to dispose of. It would seem unlikely that anyone would be so unfortunate to have their clothing cut in that way by two different people in the space of three months.'
The trial continues.
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