A woman who murdered her partner and cut her body in two, before burying her in the garden of the Derby home they both shared has been convicted after concealing the killing for 15 years.

Anna Podedworna carried out the killing of Izabela Zablocka in August 2010, a trial heard.

During her evidence at Derby Crown Court, the 40-year-old claimed that she had hit Izabela on the head with a horse figurine, after the then 30-year-old tried to strangle her.

She then alleged that she checked Izabela’s pulse and tried to resuscitate her, before accepting that she was dead.

Despite considering calling emergency services Podedworna told the jury she decided not to because ‘…I had no witnesses and no one would believe me that I was defending myself’.

When asked by her defence barrister what she decided to do instead, Podedworna stated ‘at that property there was a garden, I decided to bury her there’.

She added she lacked the ‘strength’ to move Izabela’s body so decided to ‘cut her in two’ as ‘it seemed the only way at the time’.

During her trial, jurors heard how “considerable force” would have been needed to cut Ms Zablocka’s body in half, and that her legs had been bound together before she was buried.

Anna Podedworna was a skilled butcher at a poultry factory in Scropton, Derbyshire, at the time, and her work “had involved skinning, deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife”, Mr Aspden told the court.

The butcher took two weeks off work after Ms Zablocka’s final contact with her mother, according to the factory’s employment records.

When being cross-examined by the prosecution, Podedworna was asked: ‘You murdered her, didn’t you?’

No, she replied.

‘You hated her so much by then that you chopped her in half and threw her out with the trash, didn’t you?’

‘I’m accepting I did it,’ Podedworna responded.

Following the murder, Podedworna lied about Izabela’s whereabouts, covering up what she had done and kept it a secret for the next 15 years.

Move to Derby

Izabela and Anna, who were originally from Poland, came to live in the UK in 2009.

The pair, who were in a relationship, later moved into an address in Princes Street, Normanton.

Izabela’s young daughter remained in Poland living with relatives and Izabela would call her family every few days. They last spoke to her on August 28, 2010, and after that never saw or heard from her again.

Izabela’s mother became concerned when she had failed to call on September 4 to wish her daughter happy birthday.

She contacted Anna Podedworna who lied about Izabela’s disappearance,  claiming she had ‘run off’ to London.

In November 2010, Izabela’s mother made a report about her disappearance to the Metropolitan Police via Izabela’s cousin who lived in London. But despite a number of enquiries, no further information was found about her whereabouts.

When officers spoke with Podedworna she claimed she hadn’t seen Izabela for months and didn’t know where she was.

In January 2011 Izabela’s family contacted Polish authorities to report her missing.

Their inquiry failed to return any leads and the case went cold.

New appeal

However, 14 years later, Izabela’s now adult daughter contacted a Polish missing persons organisation about her mother.

They released several appeals and made contact with Podedworna over the next year.

These appeals caught the attention of a Polish journalist, who began investigating the disappearance and contacted Derbyshire Police’s press office in April 2025 enquiring about Izabela as a missing person.

Searches for a missing person report held by Derbyshire Police and other UK authorities returned a blank. It was only during the later homicide investigation that an historical record of an incident relating to Izabela was found. This showed Derbyshire officers had completed safe and well checks on behalf of the Met police after they were contacted by Izabela’s cousin in November 2010.

The investigation also found that no formal missing person report was ever filed in the UK for Izabela.

In May 2025, Podedworna was contacted by the missing person charity and the Polish journalist himself about him wanting to interview her.

She refused to speak with him.

‘Gone missing’

On May 21, feeling the net closing in, Anna Podedworna contacted Derbyshire Police on Facebook, claiming she had information about a missing person.

Later that same day the journalist turned up on her doorstep in Boyer Street, having made the journey over from Poland. Despite her initial refusal to speak with him, she then spoke at length about Izabela – once again lying about what she knew.

The journalist recorded a video of their conversation about Izabela, which was later shown in evidence at trial.

In a series of messages over several days to Derbyshire Police Podedworna revealed that a person was buried in the garden of a property in Princes Street, Normanton.

She stated that she wanted to speak with an officer but would require a translator and solicitor.

Podedworna was invited to Peartree Police Station to speak with an officer.

During that conversation, she claimed that she had returned home to Princes Street one day in 2010 and had been attacked by Izabela, so had hit her in self-defence.

She stated that Izabela ‘wasn’t alive’ after.

Arrested and charged

Podedworna was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder, and a homicide investigation was launched.

During multiple subsequent police interviews Podedworna declined to answer officers’ questions, responding only with ‘no comment’.

Searches began at the properties in Princes Street and Boyer Street, and she was bailed pending further enquiries.

A diary and phone belonging to her were recovered from Boyer Street and a digital download of the devices showed that a number of internet searches had been made in the previous week.

These included searches for: Izabela Helena Zablocka, reformed murderers, converted murderers, sinners who became saints, a catholic prayer, and whether those with a criminal record still receive Universal Credit.

There were also messages sent to a local church asking for help interpreting dreams about a dead woman.

On June 1, 2025 human remains were found in the garden of the property in Princes Street.

These were later confirmed to belong to Izabela, and Podedworna was re-arrested.

She was again interviewed several times, and once again declined to comment.

Forensic analysis of the remains showed that, after the murder, Izabela’s body had been dismembered.

Her remains had then been disposed of in two bin liners and buried in the garden, before being overlaid with concrete.

On June 5, Podedworna was charged with murder, perverting the course of justice, and preventing a lawful burial.

Four other people who were arrested during the investigation were subsequently released without charge.

Podedworna appeared at Derby Crown Court on December 3 and denied the charges against her.

She was sent for trial on January 20, 2026.

On [date] a jury returned a verdict of guilty on all three counts.

Detective Constable Emma Birch, officer in the case, said:

“Today’s verdict has been a long time coming for Izabela’s family, who now finally have answers about what happened to their loved one.

“For 15 years they were kept in the dark about what had happened to Izabela, constantly wondering, all while one woman held the key to this information.

“Anna Podedworna brutally stole Izabela’s life and lied time and again about what she knew. It was only when she felt the net was finally closing around her that she spoke to police, and even then, she tried to place the blame on Izabela.

“Nothing can bring Izabela back, but I hope that today’s verdict and seeing Podedworna held publicly accountable will allow Izabela’s family to move forward and put her memory to rest.”

Podedworna will find out her fate tomorrow (11)