An illegal immigrant has been jailed for life after stabbing his London flatmate to death just three years after serving a sentence in Romania for an almost identical killing.
Construction worker Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, known as Jimmy, was found guilty of the murder of fellow Romanian Gheorghe Trica, 63, in Walthamstow, east London, on February 20. On Friday, Judge Richard Marks KC jailed Neamtu at the Old Bailey for life with a minimum term of 27 years.
Strikingly similar killings
Neamtu had stabbed Mr Trica in the heart in “strikingly similar” 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.
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.
Judge criticises lack of remorse
Sentencing, Judge Marks said Mr Trica’s killing had been triggered by the “exceptionally trivial fact” 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.
Judge Marks told Neamtu: “The fact you killed another person within three years of your release underlines how dangerous an individual you are.” The facts of the two killings were “remarkably similar”, with both involving the use of a knife in a domestic setting in a row over money, he said.
Fatal row over £5
During the trial, prosecutor Philip Evans KC told jurors there had been an argument between the defendant and Mr Trica at the flat they shared with six other Romanians in Walthamstow. Both had shouted insults in Romanian and Mr Trica was heard to say: “Give me back those £5.”
At one point a bystander exclaimed “Oh my God, he has cut Trica” and the victim was found in a pool of blood, jurors were told. Mr Trica collapsed on the communal balcony outside the front door of the flat and died at the scene, despite efforts of police and medics.
Afterwards, the defendant was seen to throw something over the banister of the balcony. A police dog was used to search the area and the murder weapon – a black-handled steak knife – was recovered from the garden.
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.”
Following 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 said he picked up the knife from the kitchen to “scare” Mr Trica and stabbed him in the chest to protect himself.
Previous conviction in Romania
Mr Evans pointed out “striking similarities” to an earlier stabbing in Romania for which Neamtu was found guilty and jailed in May 2007. In August 2006, Neamtu had repeatedly stabbed Adrian Vas in the chest at the house where they were both living.
The pair had been drinking plum brandy and rowed over rent and work that the defendant had agreed to carry out at the property. During the confrontation, the defendant took up a knife from the hallway and attacked Mr Vas, jurors were told. That knife was later recovered from the grounds of the property.
The defendant told Romanian authorities that he and Mr Vas had argued, insulted each other and fought with objects to hand, and that it was possible he struck Mr Vas with a knife in self‑defence. In later accounts, he said that he picked up a knife because he was afraid and that Mr Vas had provoked him, the court was told. The Romanian court rejected the defendant’s claim of self‑defence.
Mr Evans had told 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 assisted by an interpreter in court. He denied murder but declined to give evidence in his trial. The jury deliberated for three hours to find him guilty of murder. The jury was not told that Neamtu’s first victim had in fact died until after reaching its 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.”
