A murderer who was jailed for killing a Metropolitan police officer and trying to dissolve his body in acid killed himself in prison, an inquest has found. Stefano Brizzi, known as the “cannibal cop killer”, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 24 years for strangling and dismembering a policeman he met on the gay dating app Grindr.

Brizzi, 50, killed himself in his cell at HMP Belmarsh on 5 February last year. He had been placed under heightened observation while in prison but was taken off suicide watch around a month before his death. A jury at an inquest at Southwark coroner’s court recorded a verdict of suicide.

He left a will and letters to his family and friends on his bed, which included the phrase “I die in peace”, the inquest heard.



Brizzi was described by the jury as an “atypical prisoner” with a “high intellect” who was “frustrated by the limitations of prison life”. He had worked as a web developer for the US bank Morgan Stanley and had degrees in philosophy and web development. But he had not held a job since 2014 due to a crystal meth addiction.

He arranged to meet PC Gordon Semple, 59, who was on duty, through Grindr in 2016. After strangling his victim, Brizzi dismembered the body and tried to dissolve it in acid in the bath.

During his trial, a court heard how he was inspired by US drama Breaking Bad, in which a body is disposed of in an acid bath. Asked by a prosecutor about his obsession with the show, Brizzi said: “I accept I considered without any rationality at all. I think I was inspired by that idea.

“I took whatever was there, thinking, ‘Maybe I can dissolve him.’ The bath was absolutely tiny, I had no knives, no saws, or anything in particular out of the ordinary.

“I had no idea what kind of chemical I was using. I’m not saying I was not inspired by that idea. What other ways did I have to dispose of it? I couldn’t bury it. I didn’t know where to start.”

Police were alerted to the smell of chemicals and decomposing flesh coming from Brizzi’s flat on the Peabody Trust Estate in Borough, south-east London.