‘Scarface’ serial killer who went on bloody murder spree across Europe jailed for 20 years

Mane Driza - guilty of four fatal shootings and attempted murder in Albania and Italy - inflicted over 120 wounds on fellow Albanian Stefan Bledar Mone at Wembley flat

A serial killer nicknamed Scarface who went on a bloody crime spree across Europe has been jailed for at least 20 years for his fifth murder.

Mane Driza, 41, beat and stabbed fellow Albanian Stefan Bledar Mone, 23, in June 1999 in London.

A jury found him guilty of murder at the Old Bailey on March 20 after just two and a half hours of deliberations.

He had already been found guilty of four fatal shootings and an attempted murder in Albania and Italy as well as making threats to kill.

Judge Sarah Munro QC sentenced Driza on Wednesday, giving him life with a minimum term of 20 years. His British sentence will not start until 2026 at the conclusion of his 30 year sentence in Italy.

Driza, who was known as Tony Montana after the gangster in Al Pacino's movie Scarface, also has 25 years to serve in Albania for shooting a father and son dead in a blood feud.

Judge Munro said: "This is a very unusual, if not unique case."

She went on: "This was a brutal attack against a defenceless man in his own home who would have suffered very considerably before he died."

The judge said his actions deprived Mr Mone's girlfriend of her partner and her unborn son of a father.

Driza used a pick axe handle, lock knife and cheese knife to inflict more than 120 wounds on Mr Mone in at the victim's flat in Wembley, north London.

Mr Mone's six-month pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend Zoe Blay found his body the following day but could only identify him by his distinctive belt.

Stonemason Driza had become furious that his flatmate had taken his wedding ring and given it to his partner.

He had moved in with him after his brief marriage to Brazilian cleaner Rosie Driza broke down.

Driza's attack on Mr Mone came two years after he shot a father and son dead in his home village and fled to Britain under the assumed name Sokol Drenova.

After killing his third victim - Mr Mone - he took a flight to Italy, where he shot and killed two men at a bar in Sicily six months later. He tried to kill a third man in the bar but his gun jammed.

While in prison in Sicily in 2000, he was interviewed by Scotland Yard about the killing in Britain.

In 2001, in Albania, Driza was convicted in his absence of two charges of murder along with his father.

In June 2002, he was convicted in Sicily of conspiracy to murder Maskaj Artan and Blushaj Albert, and the attempted murder of Maskaj Lefter.

Driza made no response as he was led away from the Old Bailey dock.

He is expected to return to Italy shortly to resume his jail sentence there.

Driza's wife later became involved with a 60-year-old immigration judge who referred to her as "real chilli hot stuff" in emails.

Following a high profile case in 2007, she was cleared of stealing two explicit sex videos from the male judge but was later deported.

Press Association