The Brazilian goalie who ordered the murder of a stunning model he was having an affair with and whose body was cut up and fed to dogs has been freed on parole.

Actress and model Eliza Samudio, 25, was kidnapped, beaten up, and later asphyxiated by a gang that included a former policeman in June 2010.

Her body was then chopped up and fed to dogs.

Bruno Fernandes – who had had an extramarital affair with Eliza resulting in a child, followed by a paternity and child support lawsuit – later confessed to organising the plot.

He was given 22 years and three months in jail in March 2013 after a court found him guilty of ordering Eliza’s murder, hiding her body, and kidnapping their baby son.

And now the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice has granted Bruno, 38, parole.

The only condition of his release is that he present himself at the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro every three months.

Bruno’s closed prison sentence had been converted to a semi-open prison sentence in July 2019.

In a semi-open prison regime, prisoners are allowed to work outside the prison during the day, but they must return to the prison each night.

However, inadequate facilities at Varginha Prison meant that officials had allowed him to sleep at his home, where he was ordered to stay between 8pm to 6am every night.

Despite still serving his sentence, he made 13 appearances for Rio Branco Football Club in 2020.

Judge Ana Paula Abreu Filgueiras said of the recent decision to grant him parole that Bruno had “regularly complied with the conditions of house arrest” and that there were “no new entries on his criminal record”.

The decision was opposed by the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor’s Office.