A Borough Satanist accused of strangling PC Gordon Semple, chopping him up and trying to dissolve his body in an acid bath today insisted “I’m just a nice guy”.
Stefano Brizzi, 50, who worked as a web developer for Morgan Stanley, allegedly murdered PC Semple, 59, after organising a meeting on gay dating app Grindr.
Brizzi then tried to dispose of part of the body in a bath of acid – in a scene allegedly inspired by a scene from his favourite TV show Breaking Bad.
When police arrived he told them Satan had told him to “kill, kill, kill”, but now claims he killed PC Semple in a drug fueled sex game.
He had a copy of the Satanic bible downloaded onto his computer as well as a notebook with handwritten notes to the devil.
Brizzi claimed today he had an intellectual interest in Satanism, but denied being a follower of the religion.
“I debate things, I question things, I’m interested in many things – I was wanting to know what this Satanism religion was all about.
“I was interested to know what it meant to be a Satanist and I discovered that word means pretty much nothing except me as a sense of hostility to Christianity.
“Its people who don’t believe in any god, the same as people who take the teachings of Hinduism and Yoga and apply them.
“Some people portray themselves as mysterious and dark – I’m not like that, I’m just a nice guy.”
Brizzi, of the Peabody Estate Trust, in Southwark Street denies murder.
He admits obstructing the coroner in his duty by dismembering PC Semple’s body in order to dispose of it.
The trial continues.