THE woman charged with murder in the body in the suitcases case is set to go on trial next April - 11 months after police discovered the remains of Phoenix Netts from Birmingham on the outskirts of a Forest town.

Mrs Justice May set a provisional date for the trial of Gareeca Conita Gordon, 27, also from Birmingham, of April 26, 2021, at a short hearing at Bristol Crown Court last Thursday (November 12).

Gordon, who has been in custody since her arrest in May, did not attend the hearing.

Last month, lawyers acting for 39-year-old co-defendant Mahesh Sorathiya from Wolverhampton successfully argued to have a charge of assisting an offender dismissed against him.

The move was opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service, who confirmed after the hearing that the father-of-two taxi driver and handyman was no longer facing criminal charges in connection with the case.

The remains of Ms Netts, 28, were found on the evening of Tuesday, May 12, near the Stonefield Quarry on the edge of Coleford, off the A4136 Monmouth road.

Police discovered suitcases containing body parts and arrested a man and a woman at the scene.

Murder police spent several days searching areas of taped-off Forest woodland as part of their investigation into the death of Ms Netts, and also turned their attention to a cemetery in Birmingham.

Former Canterbury University student Ms Netts, originally from Croydon, was reportedly living in a Birmingham women’s refuge before the discovery of her body.

Gordon’s trial next year is expected to last for up to two weeks.