Case sparked huge DNA hunt

A BURGLAR whose ex-wife turned him in to police after he beat a grandmother to death at a house which featured in ITV’s Midsomer Murders has been jailed for life.

Cristian Sabou, 28, would have got away with murder if not for the bravery of his ex-wife Claudia, who is now in line for a £20,000 reward.

The Romanian broke into the £1.6million home and left artist Valerie Graves, 55, with head injuries “similar to those seen in a high speed head-on car crash,” a court heard yesterday.

He was on the run for six years until Claudia found he had searched “murder in Bosham” and viewed an image of the murder weapon on his phone.

It was a claw hammer with a distinctive handle which she recognised and confronted him but he threatened to kill her. She said: “I knew he worked at the house. I asked, ‘What is this all about?’.

“I said, ‘Isn’t this the hammer you had in England?’. He said, ‘Don’t break up with me and keep your mouth shut if you don’t want me to cut your throat – and our two daughters’.”

Claudia plucked up the courage to call Sussex Police when Sabou returned to

GRIEVING Son Tim and family members

THE murder of Valerie Graves sparked one of the biggest DNA mass screenings in British criminal history.

Operation Ensign eliminated 3,059 men over the age of 17 who visited, lived or worked in Bosham, West Sussex.

A 30cm hammer with a distinctive red and black handle found near the murder scene was confirmed as the weapon used to kill Valerie.

After months of detailed forensic work, Sussex Police discovered a limited DNA profile of the suspect on the Forge Steel hammer in November 2014.