A killer dubbed the ‘Hairdresser of Potenza’ after clumps of his hair were placed in his victims’ hands has been brutally attacked in prison, Metro can reveal.
Danilo Restivo, 53, is serving a 40-year minimum sentence at HMP Full Sutton for murdering and mutilating his neighbour Heather Barnett in Bournemouth, in November 2002.
He is suspected of committing up to seven more killings across Europe, including the 1993 murder of Elisa Claps in Potenza, whose body was only discovered in 2010.
He was found injured in prison on August 17.
Another inmate, David Harper, 42, has been charged with causing actual bodily harm.
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He will appear at Kingston-upon-Hull Crown Court today.
Restivo’s crimes have been linked by a chilling ritual – clumps of hair found in the hands of his victims.
He also cut off his victim’s breasts.
In September 1993, 16-year-old Elisa Claps disappeared after meeting Restivo during Mass at the Santissima Trinità church in Potenza.
Her body was discovered in 2010, seventeen years later, hidden in the church’s attic, with evidence of her hair being forcefully removed and placed in her hand.
In November 2002, Restivo’s neighbour, 48-year-old Heather Barnett, was brutally murdered.
Her body showed similar signs – severed hair placed in her hand, and other horrific mutilations.
Her bra had been cut between the cups and both breasts had been removed and placed on the floor.
Her neck had been cut and strands of hair delicately placed in both of her hands.
Mrs Barnett’s horrified children Terry, then 14, and Caitlin, then 11, found their mother’s mutilated body in the bathroom when they came home from school.
Sickingly, Restivo pretended to arrive home and helped comfort the youngsters until police arrived.
When Restivo was arrested in 2010, this overlap became the basis for a cross-border judicial probe.
In the UK, Restivo was convicted of Heather Barnett’s murder in 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On appeal, the sentence was altered to a 40-year minimum term.
In Italy, following the discovery of Elisa Claps’s body, Restivo was tried and, in 2011, sentenced to 30 years for her murder—a conviction upheld by Italy’s Supreme Court in 2014.
Italy is attempting to extradite Restivo, who is resisting in the courts.
Authorities also suspect Restivo in multiple other attacks.
He had also previously been linked to several incidents of women’s hair being clandestinely cut in the Potenza area and in Bournemouth.
It comes after prison authorities are still reeling from the attack on Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins.
The Welsh paedophile had his throat slashed after two prisoners were unlocked from their cells at around 9.30am on Saturday.
Watkins, 48, who was serving 35 years for a string of horrific offences – is the most high-profile inmate to be killed in a British jail.
Paramedics rushed to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire – dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’ – but the singer could not be saved.
Watkins had narrowly survived previous prison attacks. He died from blood loss after having his jugular slashed.