Image source, Metropolitan PoliceImage caption, Eugeniu Neamtu fatally stabbed another housemate over 20 years ago
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his flatmate in the UK just three years after completing a prison sentence in Romania for a "strikingly similar" killing.
Construction worker Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, known as Jimmy, was found guilty of fatally stabbing his flatmate Gheorghe Trica, 63, in Walthamstow, east London, on 20 February.
Appearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC sentenced Neamtu to life with a minimum term of 27 years.
Neamtu had stabbed his fellow Romanian Trica in the heart in almost identical circumstances to an earlier killing in his home country dating back to 2006, the court heard.
In May 2007, he was jailed for 15 years in Romania for murdering his housemate by stabbing him repeatedly in the chest in a drunken row over money.
Image source, Metropolitan PoliceImage caption, Gheorghe Trica lived in a flat with Neamtu in Walthamstow
Following his release from prison, he travelled to the UK as a visitor in September 2023.
He failed to declare his previous conviction or his intention to work to UK authorities, and was therefore not in the country lawfully at the time of the killing in 2026, the court heard.
Sentencing, Judge Marks said Trica's killing had been triggered by the "exceptionally trivial fact" the victim had asked to be repaid £5.
Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external
