Hair fetish killer to stand trial in Italy

A man with a hair fetish has been found guilty of the murder and mutilation of a seamstress nine years ago, using the same "hallmark" method he allegedly used to kill a teenager in Italy.

Italian national Danilo Restivo, 39, entered the flat of his neighbour Heather Barnett in Bournemouth, Dorset, in 2002 and bludgeoned her with a hammer before cutting her throat.

He then cut off the breasts of Mrs Barnett, 48, and left a clump of someone else's hair in her right hand and some of her own underneath her left hand in the carefully planned ritualistic murder considered unique by detectives.

The jury at Winchester Crown Court decided that the manner of Mrs Barnett's murder was Restivo's "hallmark" and linked the killing to the murder of 16-year-old Elisa Claps in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1993.

Restivo is expected to be extradited back to Italy – where the case has attracted huge interest – to stand trial for the murder of Miss Claps.