Builder caught on CCTV jailed for Hatton Garden murder

John Woodward was killed with a metal pole

A builder has been jailed for a minimum of 22 years for murdering a workmate in an attack that was caught on CCTV.

Albanian national Elton Sefa, 24, struck foreman John Woodward with a 3ft metal pole on 17 April 2018.

The 47-year-old's body was found at a jewellery scrap processing service in Hatton Garden, central London.

CCTV recovered by police showed Sefa walking towards Mr Woodward and hitting him with the pole three times as he lay on the ground.

An Old Bailey jury was told it might never be clear what caused Sefa to kill Mr Woodward.

However, on the day of the attack Mr Woodward had rung his office manager to say Sefa was annoyed because he claimed to have been underpaid, the court heard.

Elton Sefa fled to Albania after the killing

Mr Woodward was found by another workmate lying on the fourth-floor balcony where he was killed, with a wound to the back of his head.

A pathologist noted there were also cuts to the front and back of Mr Woodward's neck, which might have been inflicted by the blade of a Stanley knife found close to his body.

After the attack Sefa caught a plane to Amsterdam before travelling to Albania, where he was arrested in February 2019. He was brought back to the UK in January 2020 to face trial.

He was given a life sentence.

Det Insp James Howarth, who led the investigation, said he hoped Sefa's sentence would help Mr Woodward's family to "move on from this traumatic episode".