Man abseiled into woman's London home, beat her with crowbar, stabbed her and left her for dead

Assailant lowers himself through victim's skylight before launching brutal attack

Fatmir Stafasani (Metropolitan Police)

A man abseiled into a woman's London home, bludgeoned her with a crowbar and stabbed her before leaving her for dead.

Fatmir Stafasani, 49, who has been jailed for 18 years for the "careful" and premeditated attack, was caught on CCTV leaving the Fulham flat while still clutching the crowbar.

Throughout his subsequent trial, he remained silent and "showed no emotion", police said.

Stafasani gained access to his victim's apartment by constructing a makeshift rig on the roof of the block and abseiling through a skylight.

Stafasani was caught on CCTV (Metropolitan Police)

He then waited around an hour for his victim to return home before launching the brutal attack.

The woman, who is in her 40s, suffered five skull fractures, cuts to her hand, and a broken hand and fingers.

Despite her injuries, she managed to crawl to a neighbour's house and call for help before falling unconscious.

The emergency services were called to the home on Seagrove Road shortly before 3pm on 20 March and the victim was taken to hospital, where she spent nine days in a coma.

She has since been discharged, but has continued to suffer physical and emotional repercussions of the attack, the Met Police said.

While the victim was still in a coma, police used CCTV, vehicle recognition technology, phone data and witness accounts to identified the assailant as Stafasani.

The woman knew Stafasani and when she regained consciousness confirmed he had attacked her.

Stafasani, an Albanian man from Brunswick Court, EC1, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday to 18 years' in jail for attempted murder and aggravated burglary.

The judge said he considered Stafasani a dangerous offender and issued him with an extended licence of four years.

The senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Damian Ash, said: "This was a particularly heinous attack in the victim's own home, which involved careful and premeditated planning by Stafasani.

"He abseiled into her flat and lay in wait before carrying out a vicious attack and leaving her for dead.

"We do not know the motive behind this attack.Fatmir Stafasani has remained silent throughout, and even now has shown no emotion.

"I'd like to pay tribute to Detective Constable Alex Rum who worked tirelessly on the case, to the medical staff at St Mary's Hospital who no doubt saved the victim's life and most of all to the victim herself who showed great courage throughout this investigation.

"The investigation team and I hope she can continue to make the best possible recovery."