ITALIAN national Danilo Restivo has today been found guilty of the murder of mum-of-two Heather Barnett.

Restivo, 39, of Chatsworth Road, Charminster, hit Heather over the head with a hammer-type object before dragging her body to the bathroom and mutilating her.

The unanimous guilty verdict was heard in complete silence, after five hours deliberation, with no reaction from Restivo.

He will be sentenced at 10.30am tomorrow, Friday. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence.

Heather Barnett's family were in court to hear the verdict.

Restivo cut off both her breasts and placed a clump of someone else’s hair in one hand and strands of her own hair under her left hand.

Restivo talking during his police interview

Her body was discovered by Heather’s children Terry, then 14, and Caitlin, then 11, in the family home in Capstone Road, Charminster, when they returned home from school on November 12, 2002.

The prosecution claim Heather’s death and that of Italian schoolgirl Elisa Claps were so “strikingly similar” that only one man could be responsible.

Elisa disappeared on September 12, 1993 from Potenza in Italy. Her mummified remains were discovered in the loft of the church of the most holy trinity in Potenza in March last year.

Her funeral is due to be held this weekend.

Police painstakingly put the case against Restivo together and feared he would attack more women while they worked to put him behind bars.

Restivo was secretly filmed.

Officers secretly filmed him watching women in secluded Bournemouth areas and discovered a knife and a mask in his car.

That was during 2004, and retired Det Supt Phil James said: "We think he was going to attack more women - that was really a worrying time for me."

Heather's daughter Caitlin told one police appeal: "That day when I came home from school was the most shattering day of my life.

“Nothing anyone can do can bring my Mum back to my brother and me, but I want the public to help the police to catch the person who did this.

Breakthroughs came in 2006 when a woman recognised Restivo on CCTV as he left the murder scene after an appeal on BBC Crimewatch.

Restivo leaving the murder scene.

Then in 2008, DNA samples were taken from a blood-stained green towel found in Mrs Barnett's flat – and Restivo’s blood was discovered.

A computer forensic expert also disproved Restivo's alibi that he had been working at a computer course at the time of the murder.

The final breakthrough came when Elisa Claps's body was uncovered, also with hair placed in her hand, and an Old Bailey Judge ruled the Italian evidence could be put before a British court.

Read nine pages of complete coverage in the Daily Echo tomorrow, Thursday.