Missing woman ‘murdered by ex in central London office block and wheeled out inside bin’

A missing woman found dead in Hampshire was murdered by an ex-lover inside a central London office block and then wheeled out in a bin before her body was dumped, the Old Bailey heard today.

Cleaner Yajaira Castro Mendez, 46, was said to have previously been in a relationship with married Juan Francisco Toledo, who is now accused of her murder.

She was reported missing to the Met Police on May 31, having left her home in Ilford, east London, on the morning of May 29.

Her body was found in the Bolderwood area of Hampshire on Saturday.

Caroline Carberry KC, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant was Ms Mendez’s work colleague. They were both cleaning staff at an office building on Grays Inn Road and they had been in recent history in a relationship and on the day of her death they were both at work.’

She told the court Ms Mendez arrived for work at 5pm and was killed inside the office block.

Her body was removed from the building in a wheelie bin just after 8.30pm, the court heard.

Toledo is alleged to have then placed the body in his car and drove to Hampshire where it was dumped.

Ms Mendez’s former flatmate had raised the alarm after she failed to move into new accommodation, the court was told.

A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of her death was ongoing in Winchester.

Venezuelan national Toledo, 51, of Crystal Palace, south London, was arrested on June 4 and subsequently charged with murder.

On Tuesday, the defendant appeared at the Old Bailey before Judge Mark Lucraft KC for a preliminary hearing.

A plea hearing was set for September 1 with a provisional trial from April 20 2026.

Toledo, who was assisted by a Spanish interpreter, was remanded into custody.

Ms Mendez’s disappearance was initially treated as a missing person investigation led by local officers but the investigation was transferred to the Met’s Specialist Crime Command on June 5, after a range of extensive further inquiries suggested she had come to harm.

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