A man who stabbed his housemate to death after spying on her with hidden surveillance devices has been found guilty of murder.
Sheldon Rodrigues, 30, became angry and jealous after 39-year-old Stephanie Hansen turned down his advances and began seeing a married work colleague.
He spent 158 hours listening in on her while he was out of the house via a device he had secreted inside a television unit.
He also followed Ms Hansen's boyfriend, threatened him on Facebook, and complained about his relationship with Mr Hansen to their employer, jurors were told.
The situation came to a head when Rodrigues learned cargo agent Ms Hansen’s boyfriend, who worked with her at aviation firm Swissport, had visited her while he was at work.
Ms Hansen’s boyfriend, father-of-three Celso Cabillan, left her house in Hayes, west London shortly before 6am on December 30, 2022.
Rodrigues, who worked as a cargo agent at another firm near Heathrow, had been at work the previous night.
But he spent most of his shift listening in on the couple’s date with a smartphone hidden in the living room, it was claimed.
He arrived home at 6.50am and shortly after “exploded with rage and brutally attacked” Ms Hansen, who was still in her pyjamas in her bedroom.
He stabbed her repeatedly in the neck, and used a hairdryer and large fan to batter her over the head and face with “severe force”, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Gareth Patterson KC described it as "a vicious attack" that saw Ms Hansen stabbed 20 times, and suffer 39 blunt impact injuries.
Rodrigues, of Willenhall Drive, Hayes, denied murder and claimed he set up recording devices for Ms Hansen's safety.
But jurors heard of a “wealth” of evidence against him, despite Rodrigues’ attempts to cast suspicion on the victim’s boyfriend.
On Tuesday, Ms Hansen’s family wept and hugged each other after a jury at the Old Bailey found Rodrigues guilty of her murder.
Judge Judy Khan KC remanded him into custody ahead of his sentencing, which will take place on March 8.
Rodrigues' long-standing obsession with Ms Hansen was exposed in messages on his phone dating back to 2015.
In 2021, he wrote: “It hurts to see you every day knowing you’ll never like me,” to which she responded: “I do like you but just not enough.”
He appeared not to accept the rejection, offering to change and have surgery to alter his looks, the court was told.
In April 2021, the pair moved into a house in Willenhall Drive to share bills.
Messages between them suggested there had been some intimacy, but Ms Hansen said it was “a mistake” and she only wanted to be friends.
By late 2022, Ms Hansen was in a relationship with Mr Cabillan, which “angered” the defendant, the court was told.
Rodrigues' behaviour grew more sinister, and he used a phone hidden in a television unit as a listening device.
He spent more than 100 hours listening in on Ms Hansen while he was at work or visiting India, where he was born, averaging three hours a day, it was claimed.
In November 2022, he emailed Swissport under a fake name to complain that Mr Cabillan was “loitering” about and trying to have an “affair” with his partner.
He bought a “spy camera” device designed to make secret recordings inside the house and monitor Ms Hansen’s new relationship.
A “spy plug” covert listening device was also found on a shelf in the defendant’s bedroom.
On December 8, the defendant allegedly messaged Ms Hansen’s boyfriend on Facebook, using the fake name 'Jamie Oliver', making threats against his family.
Two days later, he paid a man £100 to drive him around in a car and follow Mr Cabillan, it was alleged.
Mr Cabillan realised he was being followed and reported it to police, but the defendant denied it.
Throughout December, Rodrigues bombarded Ms Handen with messages and comments, urging her to end the relationship.
On December 20, he messaged Ms Hansen to say he had been a “psycho” before searching the internet for “how to make a woman fall in love with him”, the court was told.
Fearing that Rodrigues’ behaviour was escalating, Ms Hansen confided in her boyfriend that she was going to have to move away.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mr Cabillan leaving Ms Hansen’s home early on December 30.
The defendant was later to claim Mr Cabillan was the killer and wrote a letter to Swissport saying: “He killed my housemate Stephanie Hansen the night he stayed at the house. I found her upon returning home.”
But Mr Patterson said she was alive and well after Mr Cabillan left, as she sent a string of text messages and used Siri on her phone.
She did not leave the house to go to Westfield shopping centre as she had planned, and WhatsApp messages from Mr Cabillan after 7am went unread, jurors were told.
After killing Ms Hansen, the defendant left her body in the bedroom and visited Boots to buy bandages for a cut to his hand – which he claimed he got from “household work”.
He also called his work saying he wouldn’t be in that night as he had cut his hand while washing up.
The defendant then set about laying a “false defence”, sending text messages to Ms Hansen’s phone asking where she was and pretending she was still out shopping at Westfield, it was claimed.
Mr Patterson said: “Of course, he knew fine well exactly where she was - lying on the floor of her bedroom in that small house in which he remained for around 24 hours."
It was not until 10am the following day - New Year's Eve - that Rodrigues called the emergency services, pretending he had just found Ms Hansen's body.
He immediately tried to point the finger of blame to Mr Cabillan, but his story soon unravelled.
Noticing open bandage packaging within the house, officers enquired about any injuries.
He lied, saying he cut his hand carving a chicken on Christmas Day, but the cuts were still open and appeared fresh.
Police checked CCTV from his work, where footage on December 29 showed him without bandages, high-fiving a colleague without apparent discomfort.
Jurors were shown a picture of the victim’s bare legs with drops of the defendant’s blood on them.
The defendant’s DNA, most likely from semen, was found on her stomach, jurors were told.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, led the investigation and said: “For years Stephanie Hansen tried to extricate herself from Sheldon Rodrigues’ attention, attempting to make him understand that there was no chance of their friendship developing any further.
"Rodrigues refused to accept this and embarked on a campaign of persistent harassment over this time, a campaign that became more intense and sinister as it reached its violent conclusion.
“Stephanie was brutally attacked in her own home by someone she had known for years. It was clear she had become exhausted by Rodrigues’ persistent attention and was trying to find a way out."
“While this conviction will do little to ease the intense pain that Stephanie’s family and friends continue to endure following her death, I hope it reinforces the Met’s determination to hold those who inflict violence against women and girls to account.”
