Man guilty of murdering women found in his freezer

Image copyright Facebook/ Met Police Image caption Henriett Szucs (left) and Mihrican Mustafa were subjected to "very significant violence", the trial heard

A convicted sex offender has been found guilty of murdering two women whose bodies were found in his freezer.

The frozen remains of Henriett Szucs and Mihrican Mustafa were discovered at Zahid Younis's flat in Canning Town, east London, in April 2019.

Prosecutors at Southwark Crown Court said Younis subjected both vulnerable women to "very significant violence".

Jurors deliberated for just over 16 hours before returning majority verdicts.

Younis will be sentenced at the same court later.

The four-week trial heard police made the "grim discovery" when looking for the defendant at his home following a call about his welfare.

He was not in but officers gained entry and noticed the lockable freezer, around which flies were gathering.

'Gruesome discovery''

Ms Szucs, 32, originally from Hungary, was last seen alive in 2016 and was killed shortly before the defendant purchased the freezer in November that year, the court heard.

Younis's second victim, 38-year-old Ms Mustafa, was last heard from in May 2018.

Image copyright Metropolitan Police Image caption Zahid Younis, 36, murdered Hungarian national Henriett Szucs, 34, and mother-of-three Mihrican 'Jan' Mustafa, 38

The nature of the crime scene meant a cause of death could not be established, but the scientific evidence showed that the women had been subjected to serious violence before their deaths.

Det Ch Insp Simon Harding said the freezer was forced open by one of the officers on "an old-fashioned police hunch" about what was inside it.

He said: "He broke open the freezer and discovered what could only be seen, at the time, as only one body.

"It actually took the freezer being taken away and X-rayed for it to be seen there was another body underneath that. It was a gruesome discovery for the officers."