A "greedy and extravagant" financial advisor, who battered his millionaire Mayfair client to death after looting £343,000 to fund a lifestyle of flash cars and expensive hotels, holidays and restaurants, has been jailed for life.
David Jeffs, 36, who must serve a minimum of 24 years, murdered wealthy socialite Roberto Troyan, 63, (pic.top) who had received a large inheritance from his late his civil partner, interior designer Anthony Feldman.
Mr. Justice Singh told Jeffs, who had never been in trouble with the police before: "Clearly you had a confrontation with Mr. Troyan in his flat, but exactly what happened or the reason for that confrontation is not clear from the evidence.
"However, what is clear is that you then killed Mr. Troyan. You hit him with a blunt instrument at least three times.
"The injuries were so severe that his skull was fractured and his jaw was left hanging loose. Indeed the injuries to Mr. Troyan's head were so serious that at first it was though by the emergency services that he had been shot and an armed response unit was called to the scene."
Twice-married father-of-one Jeffs (pic.bottom), the son of an ambulance driver, whose first job was with Pearl Assurance had an ordinary upbringing in Peterborough and attended Walton Junior and Senior School.
However, Jeffs had another side to his character that included cheating the taxman, plagiarising his fellow-student girlfriend's work at university, lying about his poor finance qualifications and taking cocaine and ecstasy.
The jury were told he abused Mr. Troyan's trust, buying himself two Lotus sports cars, blowing £19,500 in one night at lap dancing club Spearmint Rhino and treating himself to "expensive" holidays in the USA, Mauritius and Ibiza.
There were also VIP rugby and polo events, stays at expensive hotels, meals at top restaurants, and a £1150 night at celebrity West End club Chinawhite.
Mr. Justice Singh added: "You were in a position of trust, you were supposed to be looking after Mr. Troyan's interests. Instead you chose to take advantage of him and line your own pocket."
Despite two pre-signed cheques bouncing Jeffs continued paying Mr. Troyan's money into his own account on eight occasions over a two-year period.
"I have no doubt that you are an intelligent man and a smooth talker, but when you get into trouble you try to lie your way out of it.
"You are a thoroughly dishonest man. You took advantage of a man who trusted you and you took his money so that you could spend it on your greedy and extravagant lifestyle.
Jeffs, of Larch Close, Arnold, Nottingham denied, but was convicted of murdering Mr. Troyan at the Mount Street address on March 8 and defrauding him between March 1, 2010 and December 2, last year.
He received a concurrent six-year sentence for the fraud.
"This defendant took advantage of a frail and vulnerable man for his own gains over a long period," explained prosecutor Mr. Edward Brown QC at the start of the trial.
"As a result he was able to live the high life, but all at the expense of the deceased, who when the defendant first met him was a rich man. He died less rich by hundreds of thousands of pounds thanks to this defendant's dishonesty.
"The defendant kept the true source of his spending power from everyone. He had come to rely on the deceased, or his wealth, for his own lifestyle.
"When the life to which the defendant happily had become accustomed appeared to him to be about suddenly to come to an end and that there was a real possibility that his callous acts would soon be found out, he killed him."
Jeffs was employed by London and Weybridge, Surrey-based HFM Columbus, a partnership of financial and wealth management firms and invested £1.2 million for Mr. Troyan in an off-shore bank.
Mr. Troyan, who suffered fatal head injuries, was one half of the first-ever civil partnership in the UK and Mr. Feldman's clients included Princess Michael of Kent and Jonathan Aitken and his American family describe themselves as: "overcome with grief."
He was found on his blood-splattered kitchen floor by his cleaner and had suffered multiple skull fractures, a fractured jaw, cheek and eye-socket and had inhaled blood into his airways.
Mr. Troyan had enjoyed spending his ex-partner's inheritance and hosted cocaine parties at the flat and was known to have had several gay lovers.
CCTV evidence showed Jeffs spent 15 minutes inside the flat after Mr. Troyan buzzed him in and afterwards bought identical clothes and cleaned-up his Lotus car and himself at a petrol station.
He told police there was no answer at Mr. Troyan's door, but after the deceased's blood was found on his briefcase he claimed to have had a confrontation on the landing with an angry blood-stained mystery man.
In a desperate bid to explain away damning DNA evidence Jeffs told the jury the man was probably a "rent boy" or "angry pimp."
"This was plainly a wholly false account. It was invented to cater for the blood that had in truth come from his own contact with Mr. Troyan and Mr. Troyan's wet blood during the attack," added Mr. Brown.
"The deceased's blood came to be on that briefcase because this defendant, in those fifteen minutes, was the one who, perhaps in just a few seconds or minutes, beat that frail man, most likely because he was about to bring to an end his gravy train, his lifestyle and very possibly his liberty."
The victim's rental lease was due for renewal on March 9 and he had arranged to meet Jeffs the day before so more cash could be withdrawn from his bank account to meet the expense.
Jeffs tried to lie his way out of the fraud, telling police police he was Mr. Troyan's £1,000 a week "financial concierge" and had been paid two years salary in advance.
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