Search for German chef after body found in bin

Badly decomposed remains of woman lead to international manhunt

(AFP/GETTY)

A German chef was last night the subject of an international search after the badly-decomposed body of a woman was found in a wheeled bin which had been left for more than three weeks on the drive of a suburban house.

Peter Wallner, 33, was last seen packing his belongings into a van outside the semi-detached house in Cobham, Surrey, last month.

Neighbours called police on Saturday afternoon after they noticed a bad smell and lifted the bin's lid to find a human foot protruding from the waste inside.

The victim was in her 30s but has not yet been identified. Police said they wanted to talk to Mr Wallner, who was described as heavily built with muscular shoulders, about the discovery of the body. It is understood Interpol has been contacted with a description of the chef, who was born in Germany but has lived in Britain for years.

Mr Wallner moved into the 1950s-built three-bedroom house on Hamilton Avenue four years ago with his then-wife, Melanie. The couple split up two years ago and Mrs Wallner moved away. Sources said Mr Wallner had subsequently had at least three other relationships with women.

Surrey police denied that the body had been dismembered. A spokesman said: "Mr Wallner moved out of the address roughly three weeks ago and his whereabouts are currently unknown. He may be able to assist this murder investigation.

"We were called at about 3.20pm on Saturday after a human foot was seen protruding from the bin. Scenes of crime officers carefully emptied the bin to preserve forensic opportunities, recovering the full, intact body of a white woman believed to be in her 30s, which had been surrounded by rubbish." Neighbours said they thought the bin had not been collected in the area's weekly rubbish collection because it had been left at the top of the driveway and waste was only taken from the roadside.

A post-mortem examination last night found the victim had suffered a serious head injury but further tests are required to establish whether it was the cause of death.

Mr Wallner is understood to have worked as a chef at various hotels in Surrey but is known to have been unemployed more recently.

Police issued a photo taken from his passport which showed him wearing glasses and a goatee beard. He is 6ft tall with slightly-receding cropped brown hair and brown eyes.

Police yesterday conducted door-to-door enquiries while forensic specialists continued to work inside the property and in a white tent on the driveway. Neighbours said that Mr Wallner had mostly lived alone but a woman had recently been seen "now and again" at the house.

Barbara Murray, 80, who lives opposite the house, said: "He must have been there for a couple of years by himself, then just recently a woman moved in as well. He had a green car but two or three weeks ago he hired a van and seemed to move out."

The house, which is close to a children's playground on a former local authority estate, has been up for sale since May with an asking price of £235,000. It is thought that Mr Wallner was a tenant rather than the owner of the property.

Cobham, at the heart of the London commuter belt, boasts some of the most expensive real estate in south east England. Its most exclusive streets, where houses regularly sell for £2m and above, are the home of several players with Chelsea Football Club, which has its training ground in the town.