# Colombian man gets 42-year minimum for grisly double murder in London
A Colombian man has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 42 years after murdering two men in London and dumping their remains in suitcases in southwest England, in a case that shocked Britain and drew a large police response.
Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on 2025-10-24 after being convicted earlier this year of killing Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71. Prosecutors said Mosquera used a hammer and a knife in the killings at the couple's London apartment before decapitating and dismembering the bodies and moving parts of the remains to Bristol.
Police found body parts near the Clifton Suspension Bridge in July 2024, three days after the murders. Investigators later located more remains at the victims' home in west London. The Metropolitan Police described the case as one of the most harrowing it had faced, and detectives said they had spent hundreds of hours reviewing footage, including video of Alfonso's murder.
Judge Joel Bennathan said the crimes were premeditated and thoroughly wicked. He declined to impose a whole-life order, partly because Mosquera had no prior convictions in Colombia or the U.K. and because he may have been brutalized as a child. Even so, the sentence means Mosquera will not be eligible for release for more than 40 years once time already served is taken into account.
Mosquera also pleaded guilty on Friday to three counts of possessing child pornography. The judge said he believed Mosquera intended to profit from the attacks, including by trying to steal money from the victims' bank accounts and by hoping to sell their flat.
The facts in the case point to a violent killing followed by a deliberate effort to conceal evidence. The sentencing crystallized that picture into a long prison term, but it did not remove the broader unease the case has generated about the brutality of the crime and the duration of the investigation that followed.
For London police, the case also became one of the most disturbing they have handled in recent years. The sentence delivered at Woolwich Crown Court gives the victims' families a formal conclusion in court, even as the details of how the murders unfolded remain grim.
The long minimum term ensures Mosquera will spend most of the rest of his life in custody unless future parole decisions produce an unexpected outcome.
