Obsession, betrayal, and a brutal murder: inside the stephanie hansen case
A quiet West London flat became the scene of unimaginable horror in December 2022. Stephanie Hansen, 28, was brutally murdered by her flatmate, Sheldon Rodrigues, in a crime fueled by escalating obsession and a chilling disregard for boundaries. The details, revealed in a new ITV documentary, expose a disturbing descent into control and violence.
Sheldon rodrigues found guilty in shocking murder
The case began in 2015 when Hansen and Rodrigues, who had been friends, moved in together. What started as a seemingly amicable living arrangement quickly spiraled into a nightmare. Rodrigues developed an intense, unhealthy obsession with Hansen, meticulously documenting her life through over 150 hours of hidden surveillance.
The Crown Prosecution Service detailed how Rodrigues’ obsession intensified when Hansen began dating someone else. He stalked her new partner, even paying someone £100 to follow them. Threats were made via fake social media accounts, and Hansen’s employer was contacted twice, demanding her dismissal. The turning point came on December 29th, 2022, when CCTV footage captured Rodrigues secretly listening to Hansen and her boyfriend at home while at work.
Upon returning home, he attacked Hansen, inflicting 60 separate injuries, including 20 knife wounds and 39 impact injuries. Some wounds were inflicted with a hairdryer and a large fan.
Rodrigues initially attempted to mislead investigators, claiming he discovered Hansen's body and feigning injuries from a Christmas Day cooking mishap. However, CCTV footage quickly debunked this claim. His defense at trial, which shifted blame onto Hansen's boyfriend, crumbled under the weight of evidence.
Messages on Rodrigues' phone, dating back to 2015, painted a disturbing picture of his fixation. One message from 2021 read: “It hurts to see you every day knowing you’ll never like me.” Hansen’s response, “I do like you, but just not enough,” only fueled his obsession. Ten days before the murder, Rodrigues searched online for “how to make a woman fall in love with me.”
In March 2024, Rodrigues was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison at the Old Bailey. The brutality of the crime and the extent of his obsessive behavior have left a chilling mark.
The ITV documentary,