Breaking Bad fan who dissolved police officer in acid gets life in jail

Stefano Brizzi, 50. Photo / AP

An "evil and calculating" cannibal killer has been jailed for life for strangling a police officer during a bondage sex session and then cooking and trying to eat him.

Breaking Bad fan Stefano Brizzi, 50, killed 59-year-old Gordon Semple at his flat in south London after hooking up on gay dating app Grindr in April.

Officers called to Brizzi's flat to investigate a foul stench discovered the gruesome scene of globules of flesh in the bath and bags of dismembered body parts.

During his trial at the Old Bailey, the Italian admitted he was inspired by his favourite TV series as he tried to get away with the killing by dissolving the flesh in an acid bath.

But the crystal meth-addicted former Morgan Stanley IT developer denied that he had cooked and tried to eat parts of the body with chopsticks, saying he had no memory of it.

Brizzi was found guilty of murder and sentenced by Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC to life with a minimum of 24 years, with seven years concurrent for disposing of the body.

The court heard that evidence from an odontologist settled the matter of whether Brizzi had in fact cannibalised part of his victim.

On examining a rib discarded in the kitchen bin, the expert found that a bite mark did in fact match the defendant's lower teeth.

Sentencing, Judge Hilliard said there were "terrible features" of the case and that Brizzi's drug addiction had ruined his life.

In the days after the killing, Brizzi was caught on CCTV buying buckets, a perforated metal sheet and cleaning products from a DIY store.

The court heard there was evidence in the kitchen that Brizzi had chopped up the Inverness-born officer with a variety of utensils and may have even used chopsticks to eat morsels of cooked meat.

Following his arrest, Brizzi admitted killing and trying to dissolve the body of the policeman because "Satan told me to".

The court heard that Brizzi had gone to Crystal Meth Anonymous meetings, but upset people by wearing a Breaking Bad T-shirt as the show "glorified" the drug.

PA, AAP