Illegal migrant who stabbed ex-partner to death had attacked other women

A migrant who stabbed his ex-partner to death with a meat skewer had been in the UK illegally for 20 years.

Obert Moyo, 46, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years for murdering 25-year-old Perseverance Ncube.

It has emerged that Moyo was allowed to stay in the UK despite previous attacks on women. He had overstayed his visa which expired in the early 2000s.

Moyo stabbed his former partner, known as Percy, through the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of her children aged 10 and 12 in Salford on Nov 10 2023.

Christine Chiriseri, 28, Ms Ncube’s sister, said the family found out Moyo was an illegal immigrant after his arrest.

She told the Daily Mail: “I was very angry and upset because all of this tragedy could have been avoided if people had done their jobs properly.

“We all felt very let down by the Home Office and the people who should have made sure he was deported.”

She added: “I am reeling over everything that has happened. I still feel very angry. It was a short-term relationship and it cost my sister her life.”

Moyo, who admitted murder at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court, had been convicted of harassing women in 2007 and 2009, with the latter leading to a six-month sentence.

In 2013 he was jailed for 10 years with an extended licence after attacking another former partner in Brighton, East Sussex.

On his release it is understood that the Home Office fitted him with a tag instead of deporting him.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Ms Ncube’s family.

“We often deal with significant and complex challenges when seeking to return those who have no right to be in the UK to their country of origin or lawful place of return.

“The Government is doing everything possible to reduce legal challenges and to increase the numbers of FNOs [foreign national offenders] being removed.”

Moyo was stalking her

The police investigation uncovered CCTV from around Ms Ncube’s property showing Moyo had been stalking her in the weeks before the attack.

This escalated when she began a new relationship and culminated in him entering her house and attacking her.

Det Chief Insp Gina Brennand said: “Moyo is a dangerous and violent man and would not accept his relationship with Percy was over. He broke into her home while she and her children slept and attacked Percy in her bedroom.”

Emanuele Bellanca, for CPS North West, said: “Obert Moyo, enraged by his jealousy, carried out a vicious, sustained attack on a defenceless woman.

“He attempted to evade responsibility for his actions, claiming it was an accident.”