Banker boyfriend wanted to offer his partner £70,000 plus land in Greece to separate before she stabbed him to death and left his body to rot for nine days, court hears

A City banker wanted to offer his girlfriend £70,000 and a plot of land in Greece before she stabbed him to death and left his body to rot, a court has been told.Joanna Cierpka, 51, tried to cut her throat with an eight-inch kitchen knife when police officers stormed her apartment in Newington Causeway, Elephant and Castle, on March 15.They found the partially-decomposed body of 52-year-old Henrik Slotsaa lying in the bedroom. Investigators found unusual marks on the body which may have been 'an attempt' to dismember his body, they said.Cierpka, a Polish national, has pleaded not guilty to murder but she says she is guilty of manslaughter by reason of her diminished responsibility. The Old Bailey previously heard that Mr Slotsaa told Cierpka on her birthday he had met someone else at work, while a prosecution psychiatrist has said jealousy over his friendship with Aimee O'Shaughnessy formed part of the backdrop to the killing. Ms O'Shaughnessy, who disclosed she was going through a divorce, grew close to Mr Slotsaa in the months before his death, with the banker telling her that he 'liked' her and 'enjoyed spending time with her'. She told jurors on Friday that Mr Slotsaa had told her during a lunch that he was considering a financial plan which he thought could allow him to separate from Cierpka. Ms O'Shaughnessy started work at Citibank in September 2025 and first met Mr Slotsaa at a work event on November 12, and they struck up a friendship, the court heard. Joanna Cierpka, 51, (left), is accused of stabbing her banker boyfriend Henrik Slotsaa, 52, to death before leaving his body decomposing in their bedroom for up to nine days Aimee O'Shaughnessy grew close to Mr Slotsaa in the months before his death, with the banker telling her that he 'liked' her and 'enjoyed spending time with her'.In December, they had lunch together and they swapped numbers.During a lunch near their office in January 2026, Ms O'Shaughnessy said Mr Slotsaa had told her that he 'liked' her and 'enjoyed spending time' with her.She said that she replied that 'getting involved with somebody wasn't something I wanted to do' at that point in her life.Mr Robinson asked: 'Were you explicit about that?'Ms O'Shaughnessy replied: 'Yes.'Asked how he took it, she added: 'He was fine, he understood, he knew my home situation, I think he just wanted to be honest.'Mr Robinson later asked: 'What was the status of the relationship?'Ms O'Shaughnessy replied: 'The same as it was before, just friends.'The prosecutor asked: 'As far as you were concerned did he appreciate that?'Ms O'Shaughnessy replied: 'Yes.'The witness told the court that Mr Slotsaa had mentioned he was having a 'hard time' in his relationship with Cierpka and also discussed her health.Ms O'Shaughnessy said: 'He told me she was suffering from depression and hadn't been taking her medication.'That was a struggle, he was trying to find ways to help her with that.'He really did want to help her from the conversations I had with him.'The witness told jurors that during one lunch, Mr Slotsaa discussed thinking about 'how he could resolve things with his partner financially so that they could perhaps separate'.Ms O'Shaughnessy went on: 'He was very good with his numbers and he worked a plan out that he thought could potentially work.'But he was still very concerned about that because he didn't think it was the right thing to do because his partner, he deemed her to be not coping.'Asked if Mr Slotsaa had mentioned anything about figures, she replied: 'He said he worked out that, potentially an offer of £70,000, and I believe there was a plot of land in Greece that he was potentially looking to offer.'Ms O'Shaughnessy added that Mr Slotsaa had mentioned feeling 'obligated' to his partner.The court heard that in one text message to Ms O'Shaughnessy, Mr Slotsaa said: 'I always need you for some reason, I can't explain.'Ms O'Shaughnessy replied to him that they were 'totally stuck together', telling jurors: 'He was just one of those people I knew I'd be friends with.'The court heard Mr Slotsaa also told Ms O'Shaughnessy in a text message that his 'heart skips a beat' when she was with him.She replied: 'We're def friends for life so you are stuck with me.'Ms O'Shaughnessy told jurors: 'I was just trying to make light of it, we were just friends.'Cierpka was arrested after police found the body of Mr Slotsaa after being called to the property when being alerted to welfare concerns.Danish national Mr Slotsaa, who worked as a banker at Citibank’s London office in Canary Wharf, was found dead in a bedroom, and it was clear he had been dead for some time, Danny Robinson KC, prosecuting, said. 'It was clear he had been dead for some time, as his body showed signs of decomposition, and there was dried, pooled, blood near to him,' said Danny Robinson KC, prosecuting.Cierpka was disarmed and told police: 'I don't want to be helped. You know what happened here? He told me I'm a useless s***. He told me I should kill myself'.She had a deep cut to her elbow and was taken to hospital where she told a member of staff: 'I killed my partner', which was recorded in writing, and she signed and dated the note, jurors were told. Cierpka, originally from Poland, denies murder but has admitted manslaughterMr Robinson previously told jurors: 'There is no dispute that Miss Cierpka killed Mr Slotsaa by stabbing him with a kitchen knife.'The issue in this case is whether she is guilty of murder, or whether she bears a lesser degree of responsibility for his death because of her mental state at the time she stabbed him, in which case she is guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.'She has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the prosecution do not accept that her plea of guilty to manslaughter adequately reflects her responsibility for his death.'We say she is guilty of the murder of Henrik Slotsaa.'Jurors were told pathologists later found 14 separate 'sharp force injuries' on Mr Slotsaa, with 'slash and stab wounds to the face, neck, arms, and legs'.The prosecutor added: 'There were also unusual wounds to the backs of both knees that may have represented an attempt at dismemberment.'Police officers were carrying out a welfare check on Cierpka when they broke down her front door, the court heard.Mr Robinson said: 'It was only because of the email that Miss Cierpka sent to her family and friends saying she was going to commit suicide that police went round to the flat on 15 March.'The bodyworn footage shows how untidy the flat was, with many empty bottles of wine on the coffee table in the lounge and on the kitchen counters.'Jurors heard friends noted Cierpka had been 'in a bad way' since she was made redundant from her marketing job at British American Tobacco where she had been the 'life and soul of the party'.In the weeks leading to the killing, friends say Mr Slotsaa had been 'flirting' with a Miss O'Shaughnessy and had told Cierpka on her birthday that 'he had met someone else at work.''Throughout January 2026 Mr Slotsaa and Miss O'Shaughnessy met up for lunch on a number of occasions,' said Mr Robinson.'Mr Slotsaa told Miss O'Shaughnessy that things weren't great at home, and he told Miss O'Shaughnessy that he liked her.'She said that her life was a mess and she didn't want to complicate things by starting a relationship with him. According to her, he was fine with this.''They continued to meet up for lunch, and in March Mr Slotsaa said that he was thinking of offering Miss Cierpka £70,000 to move out of the flat they shared.'Mr Slotsaa continued to exchange messages with Miss O'Shaughnessy over the weekend of Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 8.'Those messages continued until Wednesday, March 11,' said the prosecutor.'It is not known with certainty which of the messages from Mr Slotsaa's phone were sent by him and which were sent by Miss Cierpka, although it is very likely that messages sent after Sunday, March 8 were not sent by Mr Slotsaa, as he was probably dead by then.'In the week leading up to March 13, before police officers found his body, work colleagues became 'increasingly concerned' for Mr Slotsaa's welfare because they could not contact him.'Those concerns started on Monday, March 9, when his line manager, Jane Styles, received a WhatsApp from Mr Slotsaa's phone saying that he wouldn't be into work, as he had woken up with a high temperature.'Miss Styles noticed that Mr Slotsaa had not put his out of office reply on, which she asked him to do, but it remained off.'Other colleagues at Citibank made attempts to call Mr Slotsaa during that week and none of them were successful, the court heard.Police eventually broke into the apartment and found Mr Slotsaa in his underwear, 'kneeling on the floor, with his thighs parallel to the end of the bed.'Mr Robinson told jurors: 'After her arrest Cierpka told a psychiatrist that in December 2025 Mr Slotsaa had told her he didn't love her anymore, and that on her birthday he told her that he had met someone else at work.' The trial continues.