Brazilian police make grisly find of dismembered British teen's head and arms

Brazilian police last night discovered the head and arms of a British teenager murdered and dismembered over a week ago by her drug-crazed ex-boyfriend.

The grisly remains of Cara Marie Burke, 17, were found in the central town of Bonfinopolis, near where Mohammed D'Ali dos Santos, 20, said he had thrown them in a bag.

Miss Burke's torso was discovered last Tuesday in her suitcase near a river in the nearby city of Goiania, where Santos and she had shared an apartment for a couple of months before their break-up a few weeks ago.

An farm worker on Sunday found Burke's left leg in a creek in Bonfinopolis, leading police to the spot where the other remains were recovered.

The find was confirmed by homicide squad chief Carlos Raimundo Batista. The head was some 500 yards away from the leg and the arms.

The only part of Miss Burke's body yet to be discovered is her right foot.

Dos Santos has admitted stabbing troubled Cara, 17, from Southfields, west London with a butcher's knife at the flat in Goiania.

He is also accused of dismembering her the following day after returning from a party.

Police are hunting an accomplice thought to have helped the Brazilian dispose of Cara's remains.

Yesterday it emerged drug user Dos Santos will plead temporary insanity at his forthcoming trial.

He has told police he was high on crack cocaine when he killed Cara after she threatened to report him to the authorities for selling drugs.

Lawyer Carlos Trajano revealed dos Santos had been awake for four days after using cocaine and crack cocaine and was addicted to a drug known in Brazil as merla - a mixture of coca paste and battery acid.

Grisly find: Police have recovered Cara's body parts from various locations in Brazil

He said: 'He took everything you can possibly imagine, he even sniffed cooking gas.

'The crime took place after he'd been awake for four days using cocaine and when the girl arrived he was using crack.

'Cara picked up the telephone and said she was going to call the police and he had an attack of rage.'

Cara's mum Anne Marie brought up her daughter and two other sons alone after the teenager's dad Andy Ruff died of a drugs overdose aged 32 in 1997.

Killer: Mohamed D'ali Carvalho dos Santos

The troubled youngster served six months in a young offenders' institute last year after breaching an ASBO order and taking part in robberies.

She met dos Santos, whose mum Ivanyr lives in the UK, after meeting him at a party in east London.

The pair went to Brazil in April after Cara was allowed to hand back an electronic tag she was forced to wear as part of her release conditions from the young offenders' institute.

Dos Santos' mum told in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Diario da Manha how her son had never recovered from his dad's murder in 1989.

The military police driver was tortured and shot in the head and pictures of his body published in the Brazilian press.

Ivanyr, who works as a home help in London, said: 'My son is not the monster society thinks he is. He has always helped people. He has a good heart. '