Dad found buried in shallow grave by little girls who saw his TOES had his ‘hands CUT OFF before he died’

A DAD was found buried in a shallow grave by little girls who saw his toes sticking out, a court has heard.

Tomasz Dembler, 39, was discovered near Flatts Lane Country Park in Normanby, Middlesbrough after having his hands cut off before he died.

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Prosecutor Peter Makepeace QC told Teeside Crown Court that it was a “miracle” the remains of the Polish national were ever discovered.

His body was found weeks after his death on April 12, by two girls who were having a makeshift picnic in the woods. 

They saw his toes in the ground and called the police.

Mr Makepeace said: “If those girls had not been so far off the beaten track and seen the toes protruding from the ground, that body may have laid undiscovered forever.”

Four men and a woman are now on trial and deny his murder.

The prosecution believes that Tomasz died at roughly 3.35am on Sunday March 21 – after he answered a phone call from a friend, asking him for a lift.

He told his friend that he was at a party in Middlesbrough, and couldn’t help her.

But he died that morning after suffering a broken back, a broken upper jaw and 15 fractured ribs – before having his hands chopped off and being buried in a shallow grave.

He also suffered injuries including cuts to his lips and mouth, severe bruising to his head, and all over his back and chest.

Zbigniew Pawlowski, 41, of Middlesbrough, Rafal Chmielewski, 37, of Grangetown, Tomasz Reczycki, 37, of Middlesbrough, Monika Solerska, 37, of Grangetown, and Adam Czerwinski, 45, of Middlesbrough, deny murder.

However the jury has been shown CCTV of some of the accused walking to and from the area where the body was found later that day.

The prosecution alleges Rafal Chmielewski, and possibly others, were at the burial site on the night of 21 March.

Meanwhile phone data suggested Mr Chmielewski’s girlfriend, Monika Solerska, and another man, Zbigniew Pawlowski, went to the scene by car to pick him up.

The prosecution says Solerska claims she was upstairs in Edward Street on the night of the alleged party, and that she was unaware of anything that happened. 

Solerska claims that the journey was a social one.

Prosecution say that Czerwinski last saw Mr Dembler in his downstairs bedroom and that he was with Pawlowski.

Like Chmielewski, the prosecution say that Reczycki will claim he saw Pawlowski beat up Mr Dembler and that he was too scared to intervene.

And the court heard that Pawlowski’s defence will say that he left Edward Street at 11pm that night and knew nothing of a murder.

The trial continues.