A man who was jailed for murder in Romania has been sentenced to life in prison in the UK for carrying out a near identical killing three years after arriving in the country.
Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, was found guilty of fatally stabbing his flatmate and fellow Romanian Gheorghe Trica, 63, in Walthamstow, east London, on February 20. On Friday, Neamtu appeared at The Old Bailey where he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.
The court heard Neamtu stabbed Mr Trica in the heart in almost identical circumstances to a killing in his home country in 2006. 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.
Arrival in the UK and the killing
After his release from prison he travelled to the UK as a visitor in September 2023 but failed to declare his previous conviction or his intention to work, the court heard. He was therefore not in the country lawfully at the time of the killing in 2026.
The killing had been triggered by the “exceptionally trivial fact” the victim had asked to be repaid £5, the court was told. 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.
Evidence and trial
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.
Following his arrest, Neamtu claimed 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.
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.”
Sentencing and next steps
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.
Jailing Neamtu, Judge Richard Marks KC said Neamtu had shown “no remorse” and his previous conviction in Romania was an “extremely aggravating factor”. 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.
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.”
