Man jailed for '£5 row' knife murder after near-identical crime in Romania

A Romanian man has been jailed for murder in the UK - just three years after being freed over a similar killing in his homeland.

Illegal immigrant Eugeniu Neamtu, 59, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to a minimum of 27 years over the "strikingly similar" murder.

The construction worker stabbed his flatmate to death in Walthamstow, east London, on 20 February.

Neamtu knifed fellow Romanian Gheorghe Trica, 63, in the heart over what the judge called the "exceptionally trivial fact" the victim had asked to be repaid £5.

It was almost identical to a 2006 killing in which he stabbed his housemate to death in a drunken row over money.

Neamtu served time in a Romanian prison but travelled to Britain in September 2023.

He did not declare his conviction or intention to work and was therefore in the country illegally at the time of his second killing.

Judge Richard Marks KC said the double-murderer had shown "no remorse" and his previous conviction was an "extremely aggravating factor".

The judge told Neamtu: "The fact you killed another person within three years of your release underlines how dangerous an individual you are."

Mr Trica was murdered after both men shouted insults over the disputed £5 in the flat they shared with six other Romanians.

The trial heard the victim was found in a pool of blood after collapsing on the communal balcony and died at the scene despite the efforts of police and paramedics.

Neamtu was seen throwing something over the balcony and a steak knife was later recovered from the garden.

The killer 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."

He later said he had acted in defence and wanted to "scare" Mr Trica, claiming he threatened to kill him, pushed him down the stairs and made throat-slitting gestures.

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In Neamtu's previous killing, in August 2006, he repeatedly stabbed housemate Adrian Vas in the chest in a brandy-fuelled row over rent and work the defendant had agreed to do at the property.

He again claimed self defence, saying he picked up the knife because he was afraid.

Neamtu denied the 2026 murder but declined to give evidence and was helped by an interpreter in court.

The jury found him guilty after three hours of deliberations but were not told his first victim had died until after the verdict.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "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."

(c) Sky News 2026: Man jailed for '£5 row' knife murder after near-identical crime in Romania