A man accused of murdering a police officer may have cooked and eaten parts of him, a court has heard.

Stefano Brizzi is accused of throttling Inverness-born Gordon Semple, 59, after meeting him on a gay dating app and attempting to dispose of his body in a bath of acid.

Mr Semple's DNA was found on the blade of a blender, a cooking pot, chopsticks, a chopping board and in the oven of 50-year-old Brizzi's kitchen, the Old Bailey heard.

Investigators also found bite marks on a piece of bone recovered from the kitchen and evidence that one of Mr Semple's legs had been burned, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said: "The defendant cannot have confined himself to dismembering Gordon Semple and disposing of his body either by acid in the bath or else in the dustbins.

"Instead, the prosecution suggest it would be open to the jury to find that the defendant cooked part of his body and ate it."

Mr Semple was on duty when he arranged to meet Brizzi for sex on April 1.

Following the alleged murder, neighbours on the Peabody Estate in south London noticed a "revolting smell" coming from Brizzi's flat and alerted the police.

Two officers arrived to find bottles of chemicals scattered in the hall and "blue-green liquid" in the bath with human remains floating in it, Mr Aylett said.

The defendant said he had HIV and had been told by Satan to "kill, kill, kill", the court was told.

Talking to the officers at his flat, Brizzi allegedly said: "I was talking online about Satan as a fetish - and crystal meth takes me to Satan.

"I am from a Catholic family so when I found I was gay, I found out I was from Satan. I loved crystal meth and wanted to meet someone who talked about Satan."

He allegedly explained he did not like Mr Semple and claimed he had disposed of body parts by the River Thames.

A human foot was later discovered by the Thames riverbank at Bermondsey Wall and body matter was recovered from drainpipes in Brizzi's block.

A post-mortem examination revealed evidence of the drugs GHB and ketamine in Mr Semple's remains.

Brizzi denies murder but has admitted obstructing a coroner by dismembering and disposing of a body.