Sergiu Boianjiu guilty of Wellingborough rape and attempted murder

Sergiu Boianjiu thought his victim was dead and tried to hide her body in a wheelie bin, jurors were told

A convicted killer has been found guilty of the "evil and depraved" rape and attempted murder of a stranger who he left for dead in an alleyway.

Sergiu Boianjiu, 38, of Melton Road North in Wellingborough, attacked the woman as she walked home in the Northamptonshire town in February.

During his trial, Northampton Crown Court heard he was jailed in 2009 for murdering his girlfriend in Moldova.

Boianjiu will be sentenced at a later date.

The Moldovan national, who came to Britain after serving 10 years for the murder of his girlfriend in 2002, was caught on CCTV as he raped and then repeatedly stamped on the head of a young woman when she was lying defenceless on the ground.

Footage recovered by police also showed Boianjiu, who thought he had killed his victim, leaving the scene to fetch a wheelie bin in which he tried to hide her body.

The images also showed the woman being discovered by a passer-by after several hours lying in the rain and cold.

The jury heard the woman was attacked as she walked home from a night out and was subjected to a 40-minute ordeal, suffering a life-threatening brain injury.

Prosecutors said Boianjiu had carried out acts of "desolating wickedness".

He was found not guilty of a second charge of rape, having already admitted attempted rape.

A jury at Northampton Crown Court heard killed Ludmila Nour at a lake near the Moldovan capital Chisinau in 2002

It emerged during the trial that the construction worker was convicted of theft from a school and "deliberate murder" in Moldova in 2009.

His lawyers attempted to prevent the jury being told of the previous conviction for killing 19-year-old Ludmila Nour, whose body was hidden in a drainage shaft in a forest.

A translated transcript of the Moldovan trial stated Boianjiu hit Miss Nour "several times with his hands and feet over various parts of her body" causing injuries which resulted in her death.

'Desolating wickedness'

He was released early from prison in 2018, but the trial was not told how or when he entered the UK, or what checks were done to establish his past history.

Prosecutor Gordon Aspden QC described Boianjiu as an "exceptionally dangerous man" who carried out "an attack of quite desolating wickedness against a complete stranger".

He added: "His intention was to rape and ultimately to kill her. His behaviour was evil and depraved."

People who lived at a shared property with the defendant said hours before his arrest he had been washing his clothes and claimed fresh scratches on his face were a result of a mugging.

Adjourning the case, Judge David Herbert QC said: "I will have to consider the imposition of a life sentence in your case given the seriousness of the offences you have been convicted of, and your previous conviction for murder."

Det Ch Insp Liz Wilcox, of Northamptonshire Police, said Boianjiu was "an incredibly dangerous man who presents a real risk to the women in our communities".