Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, a construction worker also known as Jimmy, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a man in the UK, just three years after serving time in Romania for a killing that was "strikingly similar".
Neamtu was convicted of fatally stabbing his flatmate and fellow Romanian, Gheorghe Trica, 63, in Walthamstow, east London, on February 20. On Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC handed down a life sentence at the Old Bailey, with a minimum term of 27 years.
Murder sparked by £5 debt
The court heard that Neamtu had stabbed Mr Trica in the heart in circumstances almost identical to a previous killing in his home country back in 2006. In May 2007, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Romania for murdering his housemate by repeatedly stabbing him in the chest during a drunken argument over money.
After being released from prison, he travelled to the UK as a visitor in September 2023. He did not declare his previous conviction or his intention to work to UK authorities, and therefore was not lawfully in the country at the time of the 2026 killing, the court heard.
During sentencing, Judge Marks stated that Mr Trica's murder had been sparked by the "exceptionally trivial fact" that the victim had asked to be repaid £5. Neamtu had shown "no remorse", and his previous conviction in Romania was an "extremely aggravating factor", he said.
Striking similarities to previous killing
Judge Marks told Neamtu: "The fact you killed another person within three years of your release underlines how dangerous an individual you are." The circumstances of the two murders were "remarkably similar", involving the use of a knife in a domestic setting during a dispute over money, he explained.
During the trial, prosecutor Philip Evans KC informed jurors of an argument between the defendant and Mr Trica at the flat they shared with six other Romanians in Walthamstow. Both had hurled insults in Romanian and Mr Trica was heard demanding: "Give me back those £5." At one point, a bystander cried out "Oh my God, he has cut Trica" and the victim was discovered in a pool of blood, the jury heard.
Mr Trica collapsed on the communal balcony outside the front door of the flat and despite the efforts of police and medics, he died at the scene. Subsequently, the defendant was observed throwing something over the banister of the balcony. A police dog was deployed to search the area and the murder weapon – a black-handled steak knife – was retrieved from the garden.
Self-defence claims dismissed
In a call translated by a Romanian-speaking interpreter, Neamtu told a 999 operator: "There was an incident here and a person is injured. There was an altercation, a man was cut, and I am the perpetrator." After his arrest, Neamtu claimed in prepared statements that Mr Trica had threatened to kill him, pushed him down the stairs and made throat-slitting gestures. He stated that he picked up the knife from the kitchen to "scare" Mr Trica and stabbed him in the chest in self-defence.
Mr Evans highlighted "striking similarities" to a previous stabbing incident in Romania for which Neamtu was convicted and imprisoned in May 2007. In August 2006, Neamtu had repeatedly knifed Adrian Vas in the chest at the residence where both men were staying. The duo had been consuming plum brandy and quarrelled over rent and work that the accused had promised to undertake at the premises.
During the altercation, the accused grabbed a knife from the corridor and assaulted Mr Vas, jurors heard. That blade was subsequently retrieved from the property's grounds. The accused informed Romanian officials that he and Mr Vas had disputed, traded insults and scuffled with whatever items were available, and that it was conceivable he struck Mr Vas with a knife in self-defence.
The Romanian court dismissed the accused's assertion of self-defence. Mr Evans had informed jurors: "The prosecution in this case relies on this previous conviction because of the striking similarities between the circumstances of that offence and the allegation you are concerned with in this trial. In both cases the defendant was involved in a drunken argument with an associate over money. In both cases he took up a knife from within the home. In both cases he stabbed the other man in the chest. In both cases he later claimed that he acted in self-defence."
Neamtu, of Westbury Road, Walthamstow, was aided by an interpreter in court. He pleaded not guilty to murder but chose not to testify in his trial. The jury deliberated for three hours before finding him guilty of murder. The jury was not informed that Neamtu's first victim had actually died until after they had reached their verdict.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the victim of this horrific crime and with all those who have been affected by it. The perpetrator has now been rightly convicted and justice has been delivered by the courts. Once sentencing has taken place, we will seek to deport him off British soil."
