I feel I can’t live without my daughter, says mother of body-in-suitcase victim

 
Generous: Alexandra Kovacs, whose body was dumped in bushes in Hendon
BORS/HUNGARY
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The mother of a woman whose body was found in a suitcase at a north London sports ground today spoke for the first time of her devastation.

Alexandra Kovacs, 25, a production assistant from Hungary, was stuffed into the suitcase and left in bushes near her home in Mill Hill in July.

Her boyfriend Laszlo Gyarmati, 29, is accused of her murder and will appear at the Old Bailey next month for a hearing.

Ms Kovacs’s mother Rita Horváth described her daughter, known as Szandi, as very generous.

She had been sending money home to support her mother and eight-year-old brother.

“My son knows what happened with his sister,” she said. “He misses Szandi, but he still believes that one day our beloved will step through the door and everything will be okay. Sometimes I feel I can’t live without my daughter. Only my son keeps me alive.”

Ms Horváth travelled to London to identify the body but could only recognise her daughter “by the shape of her eyes” as she was so disfigured. “My first trip was to my daughter’s house, because I wanted to see the place where she had lived.

“The pain was terrible but I calmed down a little when I saw she lived in a decent place.”

She said her daughter had been “cautious when meeting with boys” after one of her close friends was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. At a previous hearing, the Old Bailey was told how Ms Kovacs’s housemates heard screams at about 3am on July 18.

They reported her missing to police two days later. Her body was found in Thornfield Avenue, Hendon, on July 21. She was buried in Hungary, next to her grandfather.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in