A GARDENER who disembowelled his British accountant lover with an African spear after a bedroom row has been sentenced to 14½ years’ jail.
Eugenio Felipe Reicha, 21, was convicted of the homicide of expat Simon Carley-Pocock, 58, at his hilltop home in a picturesque village in the Algarve, Portugal.
A court heard he lashed out with with a decorative spear when Mr Carley-Pocock, of Welwyn Garden City, Herts, demanded more sex.
He fled with £17,000 of valuables and later showed a pal sick mobile phone pictures of the victim on his bed with part of his intestines hanging out.
Reicha, who had met Mr Carley-Pocock on a night out in Faro, was arrested when cops caught him driving without a driving licence in the Brit’s Audi A4 convertible.
He confessed to killing his lover in a drug-fuelled rage using a spear before enjoying a bath and a meal.
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He then tossed the spear out of the car window as he fled the scene. the court heard he later tried to sell a TV stolen from Simon’s cottage and two blood-covered cameras to another pal.
Reicha refused to testify in court and gave no explanation for his horrific crime.
The handcuffed prisoner, who now sports a Mohican haircut and a goatee beard, showed no emotion as he stared straight as lead judge Henrique Pavao delivered the verdict.
Last night he was driven back to nearby Olhao prison to start his prison sentence
A psychiatrist who examined Reicha said he had an “explosive personality” and showed “indifference” to his crime - but was fit for trial.
Public prosecutor Brizida Miguel claimed ahead of the trial: “Eugenio Reicha did what he did with the intention of causing his victim’s death, without any apparent motive.
“He had an intimate relationship with this person. He acted in an insensitive manner and with total indifference for his victim’s life.”
Judge Pavao rejected prosecution claims Reicha killed his victim to facilitate the theft and convicting him of simple homicide rather than a crime of qualified homicide which would be the exact equivalent of murder under English law.
He told him before as he sent him to jail: “Fourteen and a half years can seem like a lot of time to some and a short time to others.
“You can use it to become a man and if that’s the case it’s a proper penalty, or you can keep being a nobody and continue to be aggressive and uncaring about others. It’s up to you.”
The judge ordered the destruction of the phone used to take the sick photos saying: “It was a hideous act. It would be immoral to give it back to you.”
Mr Carley-Pocock, who quit his accountancy job and moved to Portugal after being diagnosed with a serious illness, was found naked with chest, stomach and head injuries on April 5 last year.
A British ex-boyfriend helped police piece together his last hours and collect forensic, but neither he or any other family or friends were in court for the verdict and sentencing.
The case was dealt by Policia Judiciaria officers based in Faro who have helped Met Police detectives probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
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