An Albanian murderer has allegedly made £20,000 from a TikTok livestream recorded inside his UK prison cell.
Eugert Merizaj is said to have made the money in just seven minutes while filming on a contraband phone at HMP Manchester.
He was handed a 32-year sentence in May 2022 for the shotgun killing of rival drug dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein and has been locked up at HMP Manchester, where he regularly livestreams from his cell in breach of prison rules.
After years of sharing videos begging to be sent home, he is due to finally be deported as part of a £4million-a-year prisoner transfer scheme.
The murderer made the money using a feature called ‘Live Match’ on TikTok, where users film themselves talking to other users for around five minutes, in which they often implore online spectators for donations.
The winner of a match is the one who receives the most ‘gifts’ from viewers, in the form of colourful virtual stickers.
The gifts are converted to points, which ultimately can be redeemed for money. TikTok, however, is believed to take a cut of more than 50 per cent.
Some popular gifts including roses and footballs can be bought for less than one penny but the most expensive, stars, cost more than £400.
Eugert Merizaj, 32, has been repeatedly posting on social media after being handed a 32-year sentence in May 2022 for the shotgun killing of rival drug dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein
Merizaj has posed on Instagram wearing £550 Dolce & Gabbana trainers outside his cell vaping with the caption ‘stronger than ever’ written in Albanian
Merizaj uses several TikTok accounts, one which had more than 45,000 followers, allowing him to gain points worth £20,000.
His earnings are believed to be paid to an account of a friend on the outside, The Sun reported.
Merizaj is set to be deported as part of a new agreement which will see the government pay Albania £4million a year to repatriate 200 of its most dangerous criminals.
The agreement came into force in May 2023, but has been dogged by delays, with a source at the Albanian Prison Service telling The Mail earlier this month that only 11 Albanian prisoners had been transferred until that point.
Although using a mobile phone behind bars is illegal, the thug has been livestreaming on TikTok since 2023 – with guards apparently unable to stop him.
His accounts have now been blocked by TikTok after they were alerted to new posts from Merizaj on the social media site
In an earlier TikTok chat discussing the possibility of being sent back to Albania, Merizaj listed his grievances with the British prison system.
His accounts have now been blocked by TikTok.
‘The food in this prison is terrible. You can’t even speak Albanian here – only English. I think… you never know, maybe it’ll be worse in Albania. But the main reason I want to go back is to see my family. That’s what matters most.’
Merizaj uses several TikTok accounts, one which had more than 45,000 followers, which allowed him to gain points worth £20,000
The murderer made the money using a feature called ‘Live Match’ on TikTok, where users film themselves talking to other users
Merizaj’s social media content suggests he is enjoying a comfortable lifestyle, with his previous videos revealing a TV, speaker and games console as well as an array of books in his native language.
He has also posed on Instagram wearing £550 Dolce & Gabbana trainers outside his cell vaping with the caption ‘stronger than ever’ written in Albanian.
Merizaj was part of a gang who lured cannabis dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein to a house in Hartlepool, County Durham, in 2019 before blasting him with a shotgun.
Jailing him for life in 2022, Mr Justice Lavender accepted Merizaj did not pull the trigger and was not in the house when the killing took place, but said he had been heavily involved in its planning and had bought weapons including an axe.
The killer will now be transferred to Peqin prison, a high-security facility in the west of Albania and home to some of the most notorious criminals in the country.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘This behaviour is completely unacceptable. We have taken immediate action to ensure these posts are removed and are urgently investigating this incident.
‘We are investing £40million in security measures to clamp down on illicit items. Prisoners who break the rules can face extra jail time.’
