A 25-YEAR-OLD Italian has been sentenced to life imprisonment today (December 19) after stabbing his girlfriend to death and then trying to kill her 10-year-old brother.

Alessandro Selvaggi, aged 25, from Bromley, will serve a minimum of 18 years in prison after stabbing 22-year-old Jevgenia Suveri in the chest and shoulder during an argument in the early hours of December 1 last year.

After cutting his girlfriend’s throat he turned his attention to her 10-year-old brother Vladislav, stabbing him several times in the throat while he slept.

The following morning, Selvaggi, high on a cocktail of drink and drugs, handed himself into police in east London.

Shortly afterwards officers broke into the Bromley flat and discovered the body of Miss Suveri.

Vladislav was taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, in a critical condition.

He has since gone on to make a full recovery.

Detective Inspector Tony Bishop, who led the investigation, said: “Vladislav has continued to recover from physical and mental scars he will undoubtedly carry for many years.

“This was a truly awful crime which ended the life of a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, and robbed Vladislav not only of his sister but also his primary carer.

“Under the influence of drink and drugs, Selvaggi told police what he had done, yet at court he pleaded not guilty, claiming he had been provoked by taunts from Jevgenia that he was unable to satisfy her and that she was a prostitute.”

He added: “There was not a shred of evidence to support these claims, and the jury did not accept that he had been provoked into such brutal acts of violence.”

Selvaggi was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and attempted murder at Harrow Crown Court after a jury returned a guilty verdict yesterday (December 18).