Couple jailed for life after murdering neighbours

Dustbin man Olindo Romano, 45, and his wife Rosa Bazzi, 43, were found guilty of stabbing to death Raffaella Castagna, her two-year-old son Farouk, her mother Paola Galli and a neighbour, Valeria Cherubini.

Valeria's husband, Mario Frigerio, who survived the attack, was able to identify Romano and his wife as the killers when interviewed in his hospital bed by detectives.

The murders, which were at Christmas 2006, caused shockwaves in Italy as Raffaele's drug-dealing Tunisian husband was first said to be a suspect. But after Frigerio's revelations and subsequent DNA finds Romano and Bazzi were charged with murder.

They burst into the house in Erba, near Como, with knifes after a row Bazzi had had with over the noise her son was making.

After stabbing their victims to death they set fire to the flat in an attempt to destroy evidence before calmly going for dinner in a nearby pizzeria to give themselves an alibi.

Every day the public gallery of the court was packed as people queued from early morning and tickets were being sold for ¤100 each.

As well as the double life sentences, judge Alesandro Bianchi also ruled that the couple should be kept in solitary confinement despite requests from them to have a "double cell".