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This is the moment a woman who fatally struck her friend with a claw hammer is believed to have disposed of the murder weapon and blood-stained clothes.

CCTV footage shows Svetlana Svedova, 47, dumping the items in a rubbish bin after hitting 61-year-old Ludmila Poletelova in the head approximately 50 times.

Ms Poletelova was found dead at her home in Lodge Court, Limavady, on April 23 2021 – three days after the ‘brutal and horrific’ attack.

Svedova, who is from Latvia but moved to the County Londonderry town, was filmed carrying two bags and tossing them into a bin about 12 hours after arriving at her friend’s home on April 20, Belfast Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said they believe the murder weapon was in those bags. 

Svedova pleaded guilty to the murder in December last year and was today told she will spend at least 16 years in prison.

A pathologist’s report showed that Ms Poletelova died after sustaining injuries that included multiple skull fractures due to more than 50 blows to the head.

Her body was left lying in her flat until it was discovered about three days later after her employer sent a colleague to her home when she did not turn up for a shift, Mr Justice O’Hara told the court.

During that time, Svedova turned up at work to cover Ms Poletelova’s shift and after that ‘maintained a complete denial of the murder.’

The judge said her death must have been ‘brutal and horrific’.

He told the court that police suspicion quickly fell on Svedova, who turned up at the wine bar to cover her victim’s shift with injuries to her arms.

She subsequently told police she had visited Ms Poletolova’s home and they had drunk 12 cans of beer together but that she had not killed her.

‘I did not k

‘Today my thoughts are with Ludmila’s two sons and two grandchildren who remain heartbroken and EVden EvE NAkliYat distraught by the loss of, and level of violence inflicted upon, their loved one.

‘Indeed, their torment was prolonged by the defendant’s delay in pleading guilty. This was a senseless, cruel and brutal loss of an innocent life.’

The judge also told the court that Ms Poletelova, a mother and grandmother, had been born in Russia but spent most of her life in Latvia before moving to Northern Ireland in 2009, and EVDEN evE NAkLiyaT had been employed at a wine bar in Limavady.

He said: ‘Ms Poletolova was a lady who helped fellow Latvians and eastern Europeans who were struggling in Northern Ireland.

‘Over several years she assisted some and helped others to find accommodation.’