A man accused of murdering a woman whose remains were found 12 years later will stand trial for the crime, after a court ordered on Friday that he be placed under a bill of indictment. 

John Paul Woods stands accused of murdering 25-year-old Charlene Farrugia in November 2008. The case remained unsolved until last year, when Woods is alleged to have confessed to the crime while being questioned in relation to an armed robbery. 

Acting on information provided by Woods, police officers searched a section of Valletta’s bastions and found human remains which were later identified as being Farrugia’s. 

Earlier this week, a court heard how Woods told officers that he had stabbed Farrugia and choked her inside his St Paul’s Bay apartment. 

He had then allegedly dismembered her body and mixed them into sacks together with cement, dumping them in a skip and hiding her head and legs in a secluded spot by Valletta’s bastions. 

Farrugia’s car had been recorded entering Valletta on CCTV but it never appeared to leave.  Police believe the car may have been used to carry her body.

The accused subsequently gave police a different version of events, telling interrogators that other sacks had been placed outside his door and taken by Jesmond Cassar, who Woods alleged was behind the murder. 

Apart from murdering Farrugia, Woods also stands accused of holding the woman against her will, destroying evidence, hiding a dead body, carrying an unlicensed knife in public, receiving stolen goods and relapsing. 

He is currently serving a seven-year jail term for attempted robbery and breach of probation.

Lawyer Mario Mifsud appeared on behalf of the victim's family.

Jonathan Ransley prosecuted.