After a trial at Winchester Crown Court which lasted just over six weeks, the jury in the case of Italian national Danilo Restivo retired to consider their verdict on the morning of June 29, 2011. Less than five hours later, they declared him guilty of the brutal murder of Bournemouth based mum of two, Heather Barnett. One day later, the judge served him with a whole life order sentence.
Heather Barnett and Elisa Claps Murders Carry Same Hallmark
The case for the prosecution of Danilo Restivo for the killing of seamstress Heather Barnett relied heavily on the fact that there were distinct similarities between her murder in 2002 and that of Italian schoolgirl Elisa Claps who went missing in 1993 and whose mummified remains were finally discovered in the roof space of her local church in Potenza, Italy, in the spring of 2010,
That reliance came about because of the sparseness of concrete forensic evidence in the Barnett case. However, Restivo was known to have been in contact with both victims shortly before they were killed. There were also significant similarities between the two cases, including the way in which the clothing of both victims had been cut and the strands of cut hair that had been placed in their hands.
Sinister Undertones to Restivo’s Self-Confessed Hair Fetish
Restivo was known to have, and indeed admitted during the trial, a fetish for cutting the hair of random female strangers – he used to catch a bus in Bournemouth purely for that purpose according to the evidence that came out in court. His defence team tried hard, but failed, to convince the jury that just because Restivo had admitted to having a hair fetish did not mean he was a murderer.
That fetish appears to have had far more sinister undertones because cut hair was deliberately placed at the scene of two murder victims to whom he was close. This “hallmark” or “calling card” has led to renewed interest in the controversial conviction of Omar Benguit for the murder of Jong Ok Shin who was found stabbed not far from Restivo’s home in Bournemouth in 2002. Hair, according to Benguit’s lawyer, was found by her body.
Murderer Danilo Restivo to Spend Rest of Life Behind Bars
During his speech as he passed sentence the Judge presiding over Restivo’s trial declared, according to the Bournemouth Echo Twitter feed (which provided a virtual up-to-the-minute reporting stream for the duration of the trial, with the permission of the Judge), that Restivo was “… a cold, depraved and calculating killer. The circumstances drive me to conclude that the minimum sentence of 30 years would not be appropriate. There is no mitigation in this case.” He then went on to sentence the Italian national to a Whole Life Order (WLO).
A murderer can be subjected to a WLO if a judge feels that the seriousness of the crime means it is the only thing that will satisfy “… the requirements of retribution and deterrence … ” according to the HM Prison Service website. Consequently the WLO means that Restivo will spend the rest of his natural life in prison and will not be eligible for parole in the UK.
Restivo May be Extradited to Italy for Murder of Elisa Claps
Restivo’s UK trial and prison sentence does, of course, only apply to the murder of Heather Barnett. Undoubtedly, Italian justice authorities will now be liaising with their UK counterparts in order to extradite Restivo to Italy to stand trial for the murder of Elisa Claps so that she and her family can also receive the justice they deserve.
Elaine Findlay - An expert cook, Findlay's passion for food is evidenced by the size of her kitchen and her library of old recipe books
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