Fatos Xheta jailed for murdering wife in 'savage assault'

FATOS XHETA JAILED FOR MURDERING WIFE IN 'SAVAGE ASSAULT'

A husband who murdered his wife in a "truly savage assault" has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years.

Safie Xheta, 35, was found dead next to her husband, Fatos, 46, at their Oxford home on 17 June.

She was "stabbed and slashed" several times, probably as she slept, before Xheta turned the knife on himself.

Judge Ian Pringle sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 19 years after jurors took 90 minutes to find him guilty of murder on Wednesday.

The judge said Xheta had an "obsessive possessiveness" and "consuming jealousy" towards his wife, which was noticed by a colleague after he had given her a black eye.

Several notes written by Xheta were found around their house following the murder.

One in the couple's native Albanian read "betrayal is settled only by death." Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson told the trial that injuries inflicted by Xheta to his wife's neck were so deep that they "almost decapitated her." He would routinely track Mrs Xheta's Instagram account and was described as "controlling" and "suspicious".

Mrs Xheta asked a friend in the months before her death: "Why does he not allow me to have friends?

I don't have the phone anymore because he smashed it." The couple had moved from Italy to Cowley last year and worked at the city's BMW factory.

Relatives had said they thought their marriage was strong and believed "they walked hand in hand, in love".