A violent boyfriend who regularly beat his partner before killing her and leaving her body inside a suitcase in the Grand Union Canal is beginning a life sentence.

Tomasz Kocik was handed the jail term at the Old Bailey today (Friday), and told he would serve a minimum 18 and a half years, after he was found guilty of murdering Marta Ligman on Tuesday (November 24).

The prosecution say his attempts to cover up the crime and lies to police and the court during his trial, had caused further pain and suffering to the victim’s distraught family.

Marta Ligman

The body of Ms Ligman, 23, was discovered in a suitcase in the canal in Little Venice on May 10. She had not been seen or heard since April 28, when she spoke to her mother in Poland.

CCTV footage showed Kocik, from Buckingham Road in Brent, dragging a large heavy suitcase to the Grand Union Canal near Old Oak Lane at 6.30am on May 1. He was seen again shortly after 7am with wet trousers and without the suitcase.

The 38-year-old told detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command that he had last seen his victim on the morning of April 28. He says he did not report her missing because he thought she had returned home to Poland and continued to use her mobile telephone and Facebook account in an attempt to convince others she was still alive.

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During his trial the court heard Kocik was a controlling man who beat Ms Ligman.

The couple met online and she moved from Poland to live with Kocik, who was described by friends as “obsessively jealous” and violent towards her.

A post mortem revealed Ms Ligman had suffered a catalogue of brutal injuries and gave the cause of death as “complications arising from blunt trauma to the trunk and limbs in association with hypothermia”.

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She had also suffered fractures to her ribs in the days before her death, and a pathologist did not rule out the possibility that she could have been alive when she was placed into the suitcase.

Officers were called to the canal near Maida Vale at 2.30pm on May 10, and opened the suitcase to find the remains of Ms Ligman. Her burnt and cut-up identity and bank cards were also found along the route CCTV showed Kocik had used.

Following the sentencing, Devi Kharran, CPS London Reviewing Officer said: “Tomasz Kocik was described as a very controlling and possessive boyfriend and Marta had confided in friends that he had beaten her in the past.

“Kocik only reported Marta missing on 11th May, some time after he had last seen her and after stories in the media of a body found in the canal. Evidence showed that Kocik was actively covering up her death after she supposedly went missing and he told police he thought she had travelled home to Poland to see her family.

“This was a cold and calculated attempt to conceal his dreadful crime.

"Kocik continued to deny responsibility for Marta’s murder throughout the trial and told terrible lies to try and explain her death.

The body of Marta Ligman was found in a suitcase dumped in the Grand Union Canal in May

“His cruel and callous actions only caused further pain and suffering to a family already completely devastated by their loss.

"I would like to thank Marta’s family for their support of the prosecution, I hope that the sentence today can bring them some small comfort.”