Ealing murder: Obsessive ex-boyfriend jailed for murdering woman

Anna Jedrkowiak had moved to London for a new life

An obsessive ex-boyfriend who stabbed a young woman 40 times in a "ferocious" ambush in west London has been jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 29 years.

Dennis Akpomedaye, 30, murdered Polish student Anna Jedrkowiak, 21, in an alleyway in Ealing, in May last year.

Kingston Crown Court heard she had previously ended their relationship to move to London for a new life.

Akpomedaye, of Newport, south Wales, had tracked down Ms Jedrkowiak.

Wearing a balaclava and with his hood up, he waited for Ms Jedrkowiak, known as Ania, to finish her shift at a local restaurant before following her and a young man she was close to, Jack Maskell, who witnessed the murder.

Dennis Akpomedaye travelled from his home in south Wales to track down and kill his ex-girlfriend

The jury heard Akpomedaye then tried to decapitate Ms Jedrkowiak as he repeatedly stabbed her.

Mr Maskell, 21, who worked at the same restaurant and had been walking with Ms Jedrkowiak, told the court he had been left with "indescribable memories that can never been erased".

"It was dark and cruel. I will never unsee what he did to her."

Mr Maskell said seeing the killing had left him with "significant emotional problems", such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Jack Maskell (r) pictured with Ms Jedrkowiak's sister, Katarzyna Glowacka, outside the court

Ms Jedrkowiak's mother, Danuta, who lives in Poland, said in a statement read to the court: "He, this murderer, is still alive and will be for many more years, despite the fact he took my daughter's life."

She said the "barbaric" way her daughter died meant her heart "broke with grief and despair".

Speaking outside court, Ms Jedrkowiak's sister, Katarzyna Glowacka, 39, who lives in the UK, said Akpomedaye was a "proper coward" because he did not attend his sentencing.

"He committed a crime but he is not able to face us, he's not able to look us in the eyes."

'Ferocious and savage'

Judge Rajeev Shetty, jailing Akpomedaye, said the attack was "ferocious and savage".

He said: "There is no mitigation here. There is no evidence of a mental disorder or disability."

The trial heard Akpomedaye used a bizarre cover story for the killing, saying he was a sword performer whose trick had gone wrong.

However, he had left a trail of blood from the scene, leading detectives to a pond in Gunnersby Park, where he had dumped items he had stolen from Ms Jedrkowiak.

Using CCTV footage, forensic evidence and phone analysis, Metropolitan Police officers managed to arrest him within 22 hours of Ms Jedrkowiak's murder.

He was caught at Victoria coach station trying to return home to Newport.

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