A Polish fugitive who was left free to kill a defenceless Stamford Hill pensioner in her own home is facing years behind bars.

Eveline Kelmenson, known as Lina, was bound, gagged and abandoned on her bedroom floor on November 27, 2008.

Despite struggling to free herself she eventually died of hypothermia and lay undiscovered for five weeks.

Kuba Dlugosz, 33, of no fixed address, was wanted on a European arrest warrant for skipping prison in Poland when he attacked the 83-year-old at her �1million house in Leweston Place, where she had lived since childhood.

The convicted robber fled to the UK in 2007.

He was left free to kill after police here failed to cross-check his details following two burglaries, including one at Sharon’s Bakery in Woodbery Down.

He broke into Miss Kelmenson’s cellar, stripped her of a gold necklace and her mother’s wedding ring and ransacked her home.

Police found her body on January 1 2009, after her niece, one of few remaining relatives, became concerned.

Dlugosz was arrested when his DNA was found on a chisel handle in Miss Kelmenson’s house.

He was convicted of manslaughter, robbery and burglary at the Old Bailey on Thursday (June 23) and will be sentenced on July 22.

Miss Kelmenson, a former secretary, never married and had no children.

Det Chief Insp Stewart Hill, who led the investigation, said: “She must have been absolutely terrified the night Dlugosz entered her home and restrained her on the floor.

“As he left her property, carrying her valued possessions, he didn’t spare one single thought for her welfare. She had no means to escape, could not raise the alarm and died a slow death on a freezing floor.”

Szymon Wyrostek, 26, Broad Lane, Tottenham, is facing a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict on all three charges, which he denies.