Life sentence for man who killed 23-year-old woman

A man who strangled a woman to death has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 17 years.

Jon Ismaili spent two hours with his victim, Catalina Birlea, 23, at a house in Cambridge on 2 October 2025, before covering his face as he left.

The 33-year-old, of Montgomery Grove, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday.

Ismaili made no comment during police interviews and had denied murder, but a jury unanimously found him guilty last week.

He travelled to the house in Chesterton Road at about 08:50 BST and spent two hours there before leaving, Cambridgeshire Police said.

Birlea was found by a friend 90 minutes later but she died at the scene.

Detectives said she had been working as a sex worker on the morning she was killed.

A post-mortem examination concluded she died as a result of compression of the neck.

Ismaili was identified using facial recognition technology as being the man entering and leaving the property, the force said, and he was arrested on 5 October.

Det Insp Mark Dollard has previously encouraged people working in the sex industry who have experienced violence to report it to the police.

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