He bludgeoned them to death with a hammer before stabbing them several times

Islington Gazette: 51-year-old Othamane Majdouline and 47-year-old Leandro Da Silva (Picture: Metropolitan Police)51-year-old Othamane Majdouline and 47-year-old Leandro Da Silva (Picture: Metropolitan Police) (Image: Archant)

A heroin addict has been found guilty of murdering two men and setting fire to their King’s Cross flat.

Paul O’Shea, 37, bludgeoned 51-year-old Othamane Majdouline and 47-year-old Leandro Da Silva to death with a hammer before stabbing them several times On January 2 this year.

O’Shea, of Northdown Street, King’s Cross, had gone to the flat in Stelfox House, Penton Rise, to buy heroin. He stayed for a short time, returning around 30 minutes later with a computer monitor which he appears to have tried to sell in exchange for drugs.

During his second visit, a dispute flared up between O’Shea and the two other men leading to the brutal attack.

O’Shea then set fire to the flat in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

Firefighters discovered the bodies of the two victims when they were called to the scene by a neighbour.

O’Shea – originally from Portlaoise, Ireland - was arrested on 5 January and charged the following day.

He was found guilty of both murders at the Old Bailey yesterday as well as a charge of arson with intent to endanger life.

He had told the court in his defence that when he had left the flat his vitims were alive and well, telling jurors: “If I had stayed any longer I would have been another victim in that flat, that’s the God’s honest truth.”

But CCTV evidence shown to the court was used by the prosection to show that O’Shea was the “only candidate” for the killing.

Post-mortem examinations carried out on January 6 gave the cause of death for both men as massive head trauma.

Mr Da Silva had also suffered three stab wounds to his chest, one of which pierced his heart, which had been inflicted after he had been struck on the head with the hammer at least ten times.

Mr Majdouline had been struck on the head with the hammer four times before being stabbed in the chest and three times in the neck.

O’Shea will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today.