A 30-year-old gay man has been murdered and dismembered in Ho Chi Minh City but his killer and acomplice claim he was killed so his ex-lover could escape an abusive relationship.

Vietnamese police say Tran Nhat Duy, 20, admitted to killing and dismembering 30-year-old Van Anh Tuan but he claims Tuan had threatened to kill him if he ended their relationship.

Duy began a relationship with Tuan when he was in year 11 in high school in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

But Duy claims Tuan often threatened him about engaging in relationships with others and that he used to beat him.

In October last year Duy moved to Ho Chi Minh City to begin a university course and Tuan followed with him.

However Duy then fell in love with his 22-year-old classmate Dang Gia Linh and so he began poisoning Tuan’s food with cyanide so he could escape him.

At first Tuan only threw up his food and got better but on the evening of 19 May he put cyanide in Tuan’s drinking water and he died within two hours.

The following day Duy purchased a hand saw, electric saw, tape and bags and began to dismember the body, cutting off his head and limbs.

Duy also told Linh he had murdered Tuan and she became his accomplice in disposing of the evidence and trying to cover up the killing.

Linh also helped him sell Tuan’s motorbike and the pair pocketed the money.

Over the next few days Duy got rid of the body parts he had removed, but neighbors complained about the smell coming from his room and police discovered Tuan’s torso there.

Police are searching locations based on Duy’s confession for Tuan’s missing head and limbs but these are yet to be discovered.