Suspect 'tried to bribe police'

But Mohamed D'Ali Carvalho Santos, 20, charged with killing 17-year-old Cara Burke, was recorded by police who broadcast the attempted bribery on national television.

Miss Burke's torso was discovered stuffed in a suitcase and dumped on a riverbank in the central Brazilian city of Goiania. Her head and limbs have not been found.

Inspector Jorge Moreira da Silva told reporters that shortly after his arrest on Thursday, Santos offered police 70,000 reals (about £22,000) which he said he could get from his mother.

But in an audio recording an officer is heard saying: "The biggest reward we could receive is to see a psychopath like yourself behind bars."

Police also said Santos bragged about the murder in a text message to his brother, Bruce Lee, who lives with their mother in London.

The message, accompanied by a smiling face, read in English: "The bitch is in the bag."

The mobile phone was also used to photograph Miss Burke's severed head after he allegedly placed it on top of her torso along with a bloody butcher's knife.

Police believe Santos killed Miss Burke after she threatened to tell his parents he was a cocaine-addicted drug dealer. He told reporters an argument started after Miss Burke threw a plate of cocaine on the floor.

Lawyer Odair de Meneses said his client had confessed but could not be held fully responsible because he had been taking drugs "non-stop" for four days before her death.