An illegal immigrant has been jailed for a minimum of 22 years for the murder of a building site foreman who was slashed with a craft knife and then beaten to death with a metal pole on the rooftop of a jewellery workshop in London.
Elton Sefa, 24, had denied murdering John Woodward, 47, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
But he was convicted by a jury and on Friday, 9 July, he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.
His trial at the Old Bailey was told Sefa was an Albanian national who had come to the UK in 2017 and when he started work, he began using the name Francesco Porcedda and provided his employer with a national insurance number, which belonged to an Italian national who was living in London, but had not agreed to let him borrow his identity.
The prosecutor, Danny Robinson QC, said because of his fake identity he became known by his workmates as Frankie or Franco.
Mr Woodward and “Frankie” had been working together on the roof of the Mastermelt building, a gold smelting business, on 17 April 2018.
The building is in the heart of Hatton Garden, a district of central London famous for diamond and other jewellery businesses.
After killing Mr Woodward, Sefa fled the country, catching an Easyjet from Luton Airport to Amsterdam that evening and then travelling overland to his native Albania.
He was arrested in the Albanian city of Durres in February 2019 and was extradited back to Britain in January 2020.
Mr Robinson said the prosecution could not know exactly what caused Sefa to kill Mr Woodward but he said there was evidence that there had been tension between the pair the previous day because Sefa had packed his tools away too early.
The prosecutor said it was also known that Sefa - who spoke poor English - was unhappy about his wages and believed he had been underpaid by G3 Construction, the company who employed both men.
The jury was then shown CCTV footage from inside the fourth floor of the Mastermelt building which showed a struggle between Sefa and Mr Woodward taking place on the balcony. The images were difficult to see because they took place against a background of bright sunshine.
Mr Robinson pointed out a sequence where Sefa appeared to be sitting astride Mr Woodward and making movements with his arm and he said: “The prosecution say those movements are consistent with sawing or cutting motions and you will recall that Mr Woodward had lacerations to the front and back of his neck.”
He then appeared to stand up and strike Mr Woodward with an object.
“We say this is Mr Sefa hitting Mr Woodward three times with the pole,” said Mr Robinson.