Laureline Garcia-Bertaux murder: Man charged over woman found strangled in London shallow grave

Kirill Belorusov, 32, was detained in Tallinn, the capital of his home country Estonia

A man has been charged with the murder of a French film maker who was found buried in a shallow grave in her garden in west London.

Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, was reported missing on March 5 having failed to turn up for work at PR firm Golin, where she was an executive assistant.

Her body was found the following day in a shallow grave in the back garden of her home in Kew, and a post-mortem examination found she had been strangled.

Kirill Belorusov, 32, was detained in Tallinn, the capital of his home country Estonia, last week after a European arrest warrant was issued.

Scotland Yard said he was escorted back to the UK by officers from the force's extradition unit and taken into custody at a west London police station.

He was charged with Ms Garcia-Bertaux's murder and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court. London's Metropolitan Police said her family have been informed.

Colleagues previously described Ms Garcia-Bertaux, who was originally from Aix-en-Provence and had been living in Kew since last April, as "a wonderfully creative, caring and charismatic woman".

As well as working as a personal assistant, she was involved in film and had worked with Dame Joan Collins on the 2018 short film Gerry.

The actress has said she was "shocked by the horrifying news" of her death.

Producer and actress friend Hester Ruoff described Ms Garcia-Bertaux as "an amazing individual" and said they had been due to start filming a new movie next month.

Press Association