By Ahmed Abdelsalam
A man murdered his friend and kept her dismembered body in a chest freezer alongside her pet guinea pigs for almost three years while fraudulently obtaining credit cards and loans in her name, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday.
Body discovered in freezer
George Gordon, 65, is accused of killing Delia McInerney, 62, in April 2023, days before she was due to move to Portugal. Prosecutor Martin Reid told the jury that McInerney's body was found in a freezer at Gordon's flat in St Helens, Merseyside, on 8 January 2026. In the interim, Gordon posed as McInerney in messages and emails to her friends and fraudulently accessed her bank accounts.
Alleged preparation and killing
The court heard that after learning of McInerney's relocation plans, Gordon purchased a sledgehammer and a handsaw, items consistent with those used to kill and dismember her. He also collected prescriptions for medications later found in her system. On 11 April 2023, Gordon filmed McInerney with her five guinea pigs, the last known footage of her alive. Examinations showed the guinea pigs died by drowning.
Fraud and deception
Following the killing, more than £2,000 was transferred from McInerney's accounts to Gordon. He then visited a pub and ordered a chest freezer from Amazon. Gordon later travelled to Portugal and continued to impersonate McInerney, telling some friends she was ill and others that she had attended the King's coronation in May 2023.
Arrest and charges
The deception unravelled in December 2025 after a request to the Department of Work and Pensions by someone named Chris Cavendish-Gordon. Gordon was arrested at his flat on 8 January 2026 and told officers "she's in there" and "she's in the freezer." He denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
