A migrant murderer has been found guilty of an identical killing in London three years after his prison release for the same crime in Romania.
Eugeniu Neamtu ,59, was found guilty of murder in Romania in 2007 after stabbing his housemate in a drunken row over money.
He was released from prison in 2023, before moving to Walthamstow, London, where he has been found guilty of killing fellow Romanian Gheorghe Trica, 63, in what prosecutors described as "strikingly similar” circumstances.
Philip Evans KC told the Old Bailey trial how he stabbed Mr Trica in the chest in a row over their shared flat.
Neamtu denied the charges but was found guilty after three hours of deliberation from the jury.
The court was told he had been found guilty of an earlier stabbing; however, Judge Richard Marks KC ruled it was too prejudicial to tell jurors he was convicted of murder, which can now be reported following the conclusion of the trial.
Mr Evans said: "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."
The court heard how Neamtu had been drinking plum brandy with then-housemate Adrian Vas when they argued over rent and work on their Romanian property in August 2006.
Neamtu grabbed a knife before stabbing Mr Vas several times in the chest and was found guilty after the court rejected his claim of self-defence.
Mr Trica was similarly stabbed in the chest after arguing with Neamtu, with Mr Trica heard to say: “Give me back those £5.”
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A bystander said “Oh my God, he has cut Trica", who was found in a pool of blood, the court heard.
Mr Trica collapsed on the communal balcony outside of the front door of the flat, the court was told.
He died at the scene.
Neamtu was seen to throw something over the bannister.
The murder weapon was later recovered in the garden: a black-handled steak knife.
Neamtu claimed in statements Mr Trica had threatened to kill him, pushed him down the stairs and made throat-slitting gestures.
He said he picked up the knife to “scare” Mr Trica and stabbed him in self-defence.
He has been remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.
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