Facebook Murderer Jailed For 22 Years

Wed, 10 March 2010 Courtesy of: Guardian

A man who became so enraged by jealousy after seeing Facebook photos of his former girlfriend with a new boyfriend that he flew 4,000 miles to Britain and killed her has been jailed for 22 years.

Paul Bristol, 25, murdered Camille Mathurasingh, 27, after flying from his home in Trinidad to confront her about the pictures on the popular social networking site. Bristol came to Britain less than two weeks after seeing the photos showing her with a new boyfriend, Besim Haxhia.

Bristol stabbed the accountant 20 times at her home in Bow, east London, before cutting himself and crashing her car last April.

“He found out when he saw pictures of them together on Facebook”

Bristol, an IT technician for the Trinidad and Tobago ministry of administration, was found guilty by a jury last Friday, which took one hour to reach its verdict. Judge Timothy Pontius told Bristol: "Clearly, you were eaten up by jealousy." Pontius added that Mathurasingh had fought "frantically and desperately for her life".

She had done nothing to provoke Bristol but was clearly someone "who would not want in any way to hurt his feelings, and was very concerned to let him down gently".

The judge said having found out about her new relationship, Bristol was unable to accept not only that she was working thousands of miles away, but also that she had moved on in her life. Pontius added: "You could not accept that the life you had previously had gone. You were determined that no other man should replace you in her life. You attacked her with such repeated savagery and horrifying ferocity that it was your intention to kill her."

He said he rejected claims that Bristol had genuinely tried to commit suicide after the murder. "Camille Mathurasingh was a highly intelligent and ambitious young woman – beautiful and vivacious, caring and loving. Her death has left a huge and permanent void in the lives of a truly decent family."

Mathurasingh's family, including her teacher parents, described her as a "kind and gentle" person who was sometimes naive. Her mother, Indra, said after the verdict: "Justice has been served for Camille. She was snatched from us and we are empty without her. However, we can now try to heal our lives."

Mathurasingh had been working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Port of Spain, Trinidad, but returned to her family in London in 2008.

Simon Denison QC, prosecuting, said Mathurasingh had met Bristol in Trinidad during the three years she worked there. Their relationship continued through emails and telephone calls after her return.

Denison said: "In the early part of last year, when Camille was having doubts about their future together, she met a man here and started going out with him. It would appear she tried to bring about the end of her relationship with this defendant gently and did not tell him about her new boyfriend. He found out when he saw pictures of them together on Facebook. He would say he could not accept it was over, and he decided to come here to see if he could win her back."