Mill Hill murder: Pair jailed for double murder after debt dispute

Two men found guilty of a double murder have been given life sentences, with minimum terms of more than 30 years.

Shkelqim Paja, 36, and Arber Fesko, 30, were stabbed to death in Mill Hill, north-west London, on 19 December 2019.

Mr Fesko's body was found in the boot of Mr Paja's car in Barnet, while Mr Paja was discovered in a hedgerow six miles away in Elstree, Hertfordshire.

Kiziku Tuwizana, 33, and Besnik Berisha, 44, were sentenced over the murders at the Old Bailey.

Tuwizana, of no fixed abode, had also been convicted of having a firearm with intent.

The trial heard Mr Paja had fallen out with Berisha, who owed him money and the debt included a "substantial" outstanding loan in excess of £15,000.

When he asked for the money back, Berisha recruited "hired muscle" and assembled knives, a Taser and cable ties in a plot to kidnap and kill Mr Paja, the court was told.

But something went wrong, and the plan was brought forward, with Mr Paja and Mr Fesko stabbed in the street.

Mr Paja's widow, Rezarta Paja, wept in court as she read out a victim impact statement, saying her husband was killed in a "brutal and barbaric" way.

She said: "My husband was stabbed 28 times across his body then taken and dumped in a ditch.

"We will never know how scared he was in the end, how much pain he was in.

"Those thoughts come to me every day."

Mr Fesko's twin brother, Seldi Fesko, said his brother was killed by "evil and cold-blooded" murders.

In a statement, he described his "heartbreak" that his brother was killed and "thrown in the boot of a car like rubbish".

Sentencing the pair, Judge John Hillen QC, said: "The quiet streets of this country are not to be used for the lawless exacting of revenge for criminals."

He jailed the men for life, handing Berisha, from Barnet, north London, a minimum term of 33 years and Tuwizana at least 31 years.

He told them: "Neither of you have shown one jot of remorse or compassion, obsessed with trying to save your own skin."

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