Pizzeria killer loses appeal bid

Crispin had tried to blame the murder on the restaurant cleaner

The man convicted of murdering trainee pizzeria manager Eleni Pachou has lost a bid to have his jail term reduced.

Juan Crispin was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years for stabbing Ms Pachou to death in Di Maggio's restaurant in Glasgow in May 2008.

At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh the Spanish national claimed the sentence was excessive.

But Lady Paton, who heard the case with Lord Carloway, said the sentence was appropriate, even for a first offender.

Marion Hinshelwood, a cleaner in Di Maggio's, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for her part in the murder.

The 44-year-old, who was having an affair with Crispin, pleaded guilty to culpable homicide on the basis that she provided the knife which Crispin used to kill Ms Pachou.

During the trial, the court heard how Crispin, who was desperate for cash, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Hinshelwood to kill Ms Pachou, before carrying out the murder himself.

It was a truly appalling and despicable crime with many aggravating features, not least that an accomplished young woman lost her life in a nightmare attack Lady Paton

The cleaner had checked the work rota at Di Maggio's in Ruthven Lane for Crispin to ensure that Ms Pachou would be closing up alone.

Crispin then met the Greek national at the restaurant where he used to work, and shared drinks and cocaine with her before carrying out the killing and stealing cash.

He was caught after he left gloved impressions at the murder scene which contained his blood mixed with that of Ms Pachou.

There were also records of phone calls he and Hinshelwood made in the lead up to the murder and afterwards.

Crispin's DNA was also found on Ms Pachou's left cheek and on the rucksack she was wearing when she was killed.

'Nightmare attack'

Turning down his appeal, Lady Paton said: "It was a truly appalling and despicable crime with many aggravating features, not least that an accomplished young woman lost her life in a nightmare attack."

She said Crispin had tricked a former colleague into a meeting late at night at the restaurant premises "when there was no one nearby to help or protect her".

The senior appeal judge said the nature and extent of the injuries inflicted on Ms Pachou also made it clear that Crispin's intention at that point was to kill her.

She said the number and force of the knife blows the victim could only be interpreted as a "focused and single-minded" way of killing her.