A "cold-blooded killer" who murdered a vulnerable older woman, plundered her wealth and hid her body in a graveyard for 15 months, has been jailed for a minimum of 35 years.
Lidl worker Serkan Kaygusuz admitted spending Norma Girolami's money and hiding her body in a churchyard, but denied killing her.
Kaygusuz declined to give evidence in his trial and was found guilty of murdering Ms Girolami in her Highgate home after a jury deliberated for just 19 minutes.
Kaygusuz, 42, had befriended the 70-year-old woman at a local swimming pool in north London and over the next three years of their relationship, she gave him a fortune, the court heard.
After fleecing her out of £284,000, Kaygusuz buried the victim's body in St James's Churchyard in Friern Barnet where it remained hidden for 15 months, the Old Bailey has heard.
Ms Girolami, who lived alone in a £900,000 apartment in Highgate, vanished after returning home from a day out at the seaside in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on August 19, 2021.
Previously the court heard how arrogant and vain Kaygusuz had targeted Ms Girolami in 2017 when they met at swimming baths in Archway, north London.
While their sexual relationship was short-lived, he went on to make increasing demands for cash.
In May 2021, the "parasitic" defendant plotted to take what remained of her assets by killing her after she refused to part with more money, the court was told.
Kaygusuz, from Turkey, admitted perverting the course of justice by hiding the body, theft, three counts of fraud and one of transferring criminal property.
The court previously heard the defendant, who claimed unemployment benefits and lived with his parents, spent money on a luxury lifestyle well beyond his means.
He had a £20,000 car, bought designer clothes, a new games console and went on a trip to Turkey for a hair transplant while hoarding around £120,000 in the bank.
When Ms Giromali turned off the “money tap” in May 2021, he plotted to take what remained of her assets by killing her, the Old Bailey was told.
At the time she began resisting jobless Kaygusuz’s demands, Ms Girolami had been affected by the death of her father and her funds were rapidly dwindling, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward said: “By August, the defendant must have realised that his comfortable parasitic lifestyle was not going to continue: he was simply not going to get any more out of Ms Girolami. At least not whilst she was alive.”
Before carrying out the murder, the defendant made a series of “sinister searches” online for garden tools, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, “deed for property transfer” and “will and testament”.
He also bought rope, handcuffs, gloves, plastic overalls, tape and a spading fork tool on Amazon.
Ms Ledward told jurors: “They can only have had one purpose when acquired by the defendant – to restrain and kill Norma Girolami, to conceal her remains by burying them, and ensuring the defendant did not get dirty and acquire any forensic traces in the process.”
In his closing speech to the jury, Paul Mendelle, KC, defending Kaygusuz told jurors: "What the defendant did was nothing short of despicable. He stole from Norma Girolami. He stole her documents, told lies to her friends, defrauded banks and lied to police.
"Once he had crossed the room and taken the decision to bury her body, Everything he did thereafter was dishonest, deceptive and indefensible."
Kaygusu had already admitted perverting the course of justice, theft of the victim's jewellery, draining her bank account and fraudulently applying for £60,000 in loans in her name.
Judge Philip Katz KC jailed Kaygusuz for life with a minimum term of 35 years.
He told the defendant his actions were “utterly selfish” and “motivated by greed”, adding that the defendant’s sexual advance to her in a hot tub at the local baths when they first met was “deliberate and sleazy rather than accidental".
He said: “Only you know how Norma Girolami died and you have chosen not to tell anyone.
“This was a premeditated, planned and cruel murder.
“In every imaginable way this was a terrible betrayal of trust.”
He added the defendant’s “callous disrespect” for his victim and her loved ones demonstrated a complete absence of remorse.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Girolami's cousin, Pia Graham, described Kaygusuz as a "cold-blooded killer".
She said: "You, Serkan, have taken away something beautiful from the world, a unique, benevolent, kind and lovely person.
"You cruelly betrayed her love and trust, took advantage of her generosity and systematically stripped her of everything she had.
"There came a point in 2021 when there was no more giving from Norma. You got greedy and set about your calculated plan to kill her."
Ms Graham described the impact on the family when Ms Girolami "vanished", saying Kaygusuz's actions were "dishonest, disgraceful and indefensible".
She added: "You believed you could make her disappear - how very wrong you were."
The defendant had a previous conviction in 2016 for voyeurism by taking multiple images of naked women in leisure centre and gym changing rooms.
He also had a conviction for theft and battery of a former girlfriend, then aged 17, who he followed on her way to college and grabbed by the hair.
For those offences, he was handed a community order and was still subject to a sexual harm prevention order at the time of the murder.
