How ‘Jigsaw Killer’ was snared after scattering pieces of victim’s severed body – with hidden twist exposing him

WHEN a perfectly severed human leg was discovered stashed in a green holdall, police feared a skilled surgeon had turned to killing.

They were even more baffled when an arm was found just days later that had been sliced to "almost surgical standards".

The body parts turned out to be the first clues in a gruesome murder that saw dismembered limbs scattered across the UK.

Even more chilling, it emerged killer Stephen Marshall had worked as a butcher for the notorious Adams crime family.

Tasked with chopping bodies up and handing them over to be dumped in Epping Forest, he was a skilled hand in dissection.

This became apparent when over the course of three weeks, victim Jeffrey Howe's severed limbs began to emerge.

After the discovery of his leg on March 22, 2009, in Cottered, Hertfordshire, his arm was then found a week later - 25 miles away in Wheathampstead.

On March 31, a severed head was found in Ashfordby, Leicestershire with its eyes, nose, tongue and ears missing.

Then, a pest control worker was horrified to discover a right leg covered in maggots inside a blue parcel in Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, a week later.

A torso hidden in a green suitcase in Standon, Hertfordshire, on April 11 led police to their first breakthrough when they discovered the victim had been stabbed twice.

But his identity remained a mystery after DNA from the butchered limbs failed to flag anyone on the police database.

The grisly case has now been explored in documentary The Suitcase Murders on discovery+ as experts reveal how they finally caught the "Jigsaw Killer".

Police were able to establish a skilled murderer was behind the slaughter due to the how "clean" the amputation was.

Consultant clinical and forensic psychologist Professor Leam Craig tells the show: "The discovery of a leg that's been cleanly amputated suggest we're looking for someone experienced in dismemberment, someone who's got an anatomical knowledge."

With no name for their victim yet, they decided to draft in experts to make a facial reconstruction to see if anyone would recognise him.

The gamble paid off and a man came forward to reveal his adopted brother Jeffrey Howe had been missing for weeks.

Using the facial reconstruction, experts were painstakingly able to establish Jeffrey was their murder victim.

Further searches led them to his home in Southgate, North London, where they discovered he had been renting a room to pal Stephen Marshall and his girlfriend Sarah Bush.

Marshall was a violent convicted criminal who Jeffrey had worked with when they were both kitchen salesmen.

Although he had only charged the thug a pittance in rent, Marshall and Bush eventually stopped paying Jeffrey altogether.

Convinced they had their prime suspect, officers began compiling a case against Marshall and searched the flat.

They discovered Jeffrey's bed had been removed and replaced by a blow-up mattress.

Forensic officers also found evidence of a large amount of bloodstains and believed this had covered the missing bed.

This, along with footage of him removing a mattress from the flat, was enough for officers to arrest Marshall on suspicion of murder.

Marshall was uncooperative in his police interviews but police found a smoking gun nestled in gaffer tape that was wrapped around part of Jeffrey's body.

Blue fibres on the tape matched those on the air mattress in his flat that was hastily put up in place of his missing bed.

ANPR cameras also managed to pick up a silver Seat - Marshall's car - driving from Hertfordshire to Leicestershire.

Just seven days after the murder, he had also flogged Jeffrey's car, cashed cheques to himself from the victim's bank account and tried to sell his furniture.

It emerged manipulative Marshall had taken advantage of his good-natured pal by refusing to pay him any more rent.

When Jeffrey stood up to him, the killler stabbed him to death while girlfriend Sarah Bush held a pillow over his face then hacked his body to pieces.

Marshall stood trial in January 2010 and tried to pin the brutal murder on girlfriend Bush.

But in a shocking twist, he suddenly changed his plea and admitted he had killed Jeffrey.

Marshall also revealed the most grisly bombshell - that he was the Adams family personal butcher.

He had worked as a doorman in the 1990s for a club owned by the notorious clan, who were also known as the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate.

The family terrorised the UK - torturing victims to their limbs fell off and amassing a £200million fortune through drug cartels, extortion and robbery.

Marshall would cut up the bodies of their victims and dump them in Epping Forest - admitting he had done this four times for the Adams.

He was handed a  with a minimum of 36 years, while Bush was given three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice.

Forensic psychologist Professor Leam Craig said: "To commit a murder is horrific, the dismembering of the body then disposing of the body is even more horrific.

"And then to have the sense of self confidence to drive round the country lanes with body parts in the boot - again even more horrific.

"But for Stephen Marshall, he would have seen this as a job to complete."

• Catch 'The Suitcase Murders' on Quest Red on Saturdays. Also available to stream on discovery+