Man paranoid about Covid jailed for murdering landlords in lockdown
Daniel Briceno Garcia killed them in Stockwell, south London in April 2020
A man who stabbed his landlords to death after becoming paranoid about Covid during the first national lockdown has been jailed for at least 33 years.
Daniel Briceno Garcia, 46, killed Sonia Butron Calvi, 66, and Edgar Aguilera Daza, 60, at the home they shared with five others in Stockwell, south London, on April 1 2020.
Police found the couple lying in a "bloodbath" at the property, the Old Bailey was told.
It was claimed Briceno Garcia had become worried about the risks of Covid and paying his rent in the pandemic.
He had admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming he was mentally ill at the time.
Jurors deliberated for just 45 minutes to find him guilty of two counts of murder.
On Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft QC jailed him for life with a minimum term of 33 years.
Previously, Tom Little QC had told jurors how the defendant stabbed the victims repeatedly with a knife in a "brutal and frenzied" attack.
The couple had sublet rooms in the rented maisonette in Dorset Road to the defendant and five other Spanish speakers.
Six 999 calls were made on the defendant's phone before police arrived at the property, the court heard.
Briceno Garcia opened the door and his hands were bleeding as he held them up, the court was told.
Mr Little said: "What was found at the property can only be properly described as a bloodbath."
A search of the defendant's bedroom uncovered the murder weapon - which may have been run under a tap as part of a "limited clean-up exercise", Mr Little said.
There was also a whiteboard with writing in French and Spanish referring to the Covid crisis in red and a handwritten note.
Following his arrest, Briceno Garcia said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" then declined to explain what had happened, jurors heard.
The defendant, who had superficial cuts to his hands, went on to claim to a psychiatrist that his fellow tenants had been violent towards him to obtain money and would intimidate him by striking him.
He also claimed the two victims were trying to kill him and that he was hearing voices, the court was told.
Mr Little, prosecuting, said the defendant's claim of paranoid delusions or auditory hallucinations was "very much in dispute".