This video shows the horrific moment a vile killer followed his ex-girlfriend before attempting to decapitate her in an alley ambush in which he stabbed her more than 40 times.
Dennis Akpomedaye, 30, was today jailed for life, with a minimum term of 29 years, for the murder of Anna Jedrkowiak, 21.
The coward had refused to attend court for the crime, in which he tried to cut Anna’s head off in a brutal attack where he stabbed her almost 40 times in Ealing, west London.
He had stalked the Polish student from his home in Newport, South Wales, last May, and video showed him hiding in the shadows in the lead up to what Judge Rajeev Shetty branded “ferocious and savage”.
In the weeks before her murder Akpomedaye began trying to manipulate her by threatening suicide.
He also told her: “We will be together no matter what. I will find you.”
When Akpomedaye was hurt during the attack, he gave false names when he went to the hospital twice for treatment and claimed he was a sword performer whose trick went wrong.
Ania's mother Danuta, who lives in Poland, said in a statement read to the court: “He, this murderer, is still alive and will be for many more years, despite the fact he took my daughter’s life.”
he said the “barbaric” way her daughter died meant her heart “broke with grief and despair”.
Ania's sister, Katareyna Glowacka, 39, who lives in the UK, was tearful in court as a statement describing her “despair, helplessness and complete disbelief” was read out.
She said: “I am also very angry. I have been robbed of the opportunity to have a sister in my life.”
Katareyna, who was pregnant when her sister died, added: “It is heartbreaking that my little baby boy will never meet his auntie.”
She said her “smart, tenacious and ambitious” sister, who was also “caring, kind and thoughtful”, was a gifted musician.
Speaking about his non-attendance in court, she added: "It just shows his true character, that he is a proper coward.
"He committed a crime but he is not able to face us, he's not able to look us in the eyes.
"For me personally, it's really disrespectful that he killed my sister and he didn't show any remorse.
"He never gave any statement why he did it, he just killed her and went about his life like nothing ever happened, which is horrible."
Jack Maskell, 21, who worked at Las Iguanas, was walking with Ania when she was murdered after the pair became “more than just friends”.
He told the court: “I have been left with indescribable memories that can never be erased.
“It was dark and cruel. I will never unsee what he did to her.”
Jack said seeing the killing has left him with “significant emotional problems” such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
He also told of feeling regret despite his efforts to save Ania, adding: “I will never know if I could have stopped what happened.”
Judge Shetty told him not to feel regret, saying there was “nothing” he could have done.
After the attack, Akpomedaye had left a trail of blood leading from the scene, leading detectives to a pond in Gunnersbury Park, where he had dumped items he stole from Ania.
Using CCTV, forensic evidence and phone analysis, Metropolitan Police officers managed to arrest him within 22 hours of her death, and he was caught at Victoria coach station trying to return home to Wales.
