Migrant who fled to UK after attempting to murder woman jogger when he was just 15 is finally kicked out of the country

A migrant who fled to the UK from Italy after being convicted of attempting to murder a woman jogger has finally been deported, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.Jamal Tonelli – who has been described as ‘socially dangerous’ – was just 15 when he repeatedly knifed Marta Novello, now 29, and threw her in a ditch, when she was out running in her local park in March 2021.Officials say booting the now 21-year-old out shows the government is cracking down on law and order and targeting foreign criminals for deportation at the earliest opportunity in a bid to highlight Labour is getting tough.At his original trial in 2021 Tonelli pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years and eight months, astonishingly later reduced to five on appeal because of his age and mental capacity – although judges still labelled him ‘socially dangerous’.However, a bureaucratic bungle meant he was released early from an Italian young offenders institute after serving less than a year and ended up in Croydon, south London, where his mother Cristina lives and works as a chef.Following the mix-up, current Italian PM Giorgia Meloni described the outrage at his release as ‘incredible’ and an inquiry was launched but authorities here were powerless as he had arrived legally’ with his mother.Within months of arriving in the UK he had committed a string of driving offences and in April 2025 he was convicted of driving without a licence, insurance and failure to surrender to police.Incredibly at his trial at Croydon Magistrates Court in April 2025 Tonelli’s solicitor Sarah Moulange described him in mitigation as being of ‘previous good character’ and read out references from youth workers highlighting how he ‘works in a community kitchen and supports victims of violence’. Marta Novello, now 29, was repeatedly knifed and thrown her in a ditch by a migrant when she was out running in her local park in March 2021 Jamal Tonelli, who fled to the UK from Italy after being convicted of attempting to murder Ms Novello, has finally been deportedShe added he had ‘resettled in England from Italy after a turbulent childhood’ but made no mention of the attempted murder conviction at Venice youth court – although both she and the Crown Prosecution Service were unaware until this newspaper revealed it.Croydon Magistrates fined him £120 for the driving offences and also ordered him to pay £48 surcharge and £85 costs and he walked free from court – only to reoffend less than four months later.The Mail on Sunday has since discovered that in August 2025 he was stopped by police in Croydon who found drugs including crack cocaine and heroin on him, as well as a knife.He pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates and the case was sent to The Old Bailey for sentencing where he was jailed for two years in November 2025 and as a convicted foreign criminal, he was released earlier this month and deported.Tonelli’s Italian lawyer Matteo Scussat told The Mail on Sunday he could ‘not confirm or deny’ his client had been deported but Home Office sources said he had been put on a Venice-bound plane last week.A Home Office spokesman said: ’Any foreign national who receives a prison sentence in the UK is referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity and will be barred from ever returning.‘Returns are at their highest level in nearly a decade. Almost 12,000 foreign criminals have been returned or deported in there two years since the last election – a 41% increase on the two years prior.‘This government is focused on removing foreign national offenders to protect the public and ease the burden on taxpayers.‘We have already changed the law so most foreign prisoners can be deported after serving 30 per cent of their prison time rather than 50 per cent.’During his trial in Italy, Marta told the court she was ‘lucky to be alive’ and added she owed her life to two passers by who found her in a pool of blood and stayed with her until paramedics arrived.After his conviction he was sent to a juvenile institute in the southern city of Naples but a red tape mix up meant he was freed in 2023 pending a third and final appeal and he moved to England to be with his mother who had arrived before Brexit in 2016.Tonelli is now living back at Mogliano Veneto, where the attack happened, with his maternal grandparents and is due in court next week for a third and final appeal.Incredibly his victim lives just a few minutes away and police have increased patrols as a result of his return.Marta’s lawyer Alberto Barbaro told The Mail on Sunday: ‘In his original trial and subsequent appeal Tonelli was described as socially dangerous and so this aspect is very important and must be considered at the next hearing.‘The fact he is living with his family just a few minutes from where Marta and her family live is also troubling, at least the police will keep an eye on the situation and keep an eye on things.‘It didn’t really surprise me to learn he had been convicted of offences in the United Kingdon not once but twice and in very close succession, and it was always our fear he would reoffend.'Mr Barbaro also thanked The Mail on Sunday for highlighting Toneli's UK convictions and said he would raise them at the upcoming trial.He added: 'This information is very useful, thank you for sharing with me, at the new hearing I will highlight how he attacked Marta with a knife and now subsequently, as we always feared he has reoffended again with a knife, it shows how dangerous he is.'‘He should not have been released, he should be in detention pending the third and final appeal but he ended up in the UK where it appears authorities were completely unaware of his background.’Speaking last year after news of the error emerged, Marta, who is now an English teacher, said: ‘To hear he had been released by mistake left me very upset. It hasn’t been easy.‘Fortunately, the justice system is still proceeding, and we hope that it will conclude as quickly as possible.’She added: 'Bureaucratic errors or carelessness of this type are unacceptable and incomprehensible, especially when it comes to the safety of a person and an entire community.'It was destabilizing and disheartening to receive this news. The resulting psychological burden is immense and weighs on a long, difficult, tiring and expensive journey, through which I am trying to return to a normal lifestyle after the violence I suffered.'The road to leaving that brutal episode behind is all uphill. And the current judicial mess is an additional obstacle. I perceive a lack of attention to the safety needs of us victims by the relevant offices.'She added that 'the existence of a second-degree sentence that confirmed the dangerousness of the boy' already declared guilty in the first-degree sentence, underlined his propensity to violence.At the hearing next week in Venice, judges can either increase or decrease his sentence or clear him of attempted murder.