THE digital trail of the five people accused of murdering a father-of one has been outlined to jurors.

Tomasz Dembler was beaten to death in a terraced house before having his hands chopped off and buried in a shallow grave near a North East beauty spot.

A murder investigation was launched after the 39-year-old's body was discovered by two teenage girls in woodland next to Flatts Lane Country Park in Middlesbrough.

Friends of the Polish national, who had lived in the UK for 20 years, raised concerns about his safety just days before his body was discovered on April 12.

Dembler had not been seen alive since Saturday, March 20, and his final message from his mobile phone was sent to his mother in the early hours of the following day, Teesside Crown Court heard.The Northern Echo: Tomasz DemblerTomasz Dembler

Victoria Workman, who worked as an analyst for Cleveland Police during the murder investigation, collected evidence to trace mobile phone data and ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) of all five defendants and the alleged murder victim.

Peter Makepeace QC, prosecuting, painstakingly took the jurors through the hours leading up to and after Mr Dembler's death on March 21 last year, which had been made into a timeline by Ms Workman.

The court heard how mobile phone data had placed all five defendants in the area of Edward Street, North Ormesby, at the time of the alleged murder and three vehicles connected to them had been placed in the vicinity of the burial site.

The Northern Echo: The house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, where Tomasz Dembler was beaten to deathThe house on Edward Street, North Ormesby, where Tomasz Dembler was beaten to death

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard how Mr Dembler suffered a catalogue of injuries, including broken ribs, a spinal fracture and significant head injuries caused by blunt force trauma.

Jurors has watched CCTV footage of two Mercedes belonging to Rafal Chmielewski and Monika Solerska made separate journeys from Edward Street, North Ormesby where Mr Dembler was killed and the burial site.

The vehicles were driven to Flatts Lane Country Park on four occasions in the hours following the fatal beating of Mr Dembler.

The Northern Echo: The woodland where Mr Dembler's body was buried in a shallow graveThe woodland where Mr Dembler's body was buried in a shallow grave

Zbigniew Pawlowski, 41, of Leven Street, Newport, Middlesbrough; Chmielewski, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; Reczycki, 37, of Ashfield Avenue, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough; Solerska, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; and Adam Czerwinski, 45, of Edward Street, North Ormesby, all deny murder.

The trial continues.

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