Labourer who stripped grandmother naked before brutally beating her to death with nailed club pleads guilty to rape

11 March 2024, 15:38 | Updated: 11 March 2024, 15:57

A manual labourer has admitted to violently raping a grandmother, two years after being handed a life sentence for bludgeoning her to death with a nailed bat following a chance encounter on a bus.

Valentin Lazar, 23, was found guilty of the murder of 45-year-old Maria Rawlings in February 2022, after a court heard he beat and strangled the grandmother to death and left her naked in undergrowth in Romford, east London.

The violent attack, which took place on the evening of May 3 2021, saw Lazar guide Ms Rawlings from a bus stop into nearby undergrowth where the attack took place.

The court heard how Ms Rawlings sustained more than 100 injuries from blunt force trauma - including blows to the head, 15 rib fractures, defensive wounds to the hands and footprints consistent with being stood on.

Lazar, formerly of Newham, was initially handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years and six months in prison after admitting to the murder of Ms Rawlings.

On Monday he appeared at the Old Bailey and admitted to raping the 45-year-old.

The court heard how Lazar had met Ms Rawlings after the pair crossed paths aboard the EL3 double-decker bus in Romford.

Lazar, who travelled to the UK from Romania aged 18, was captured on CCTV leading the grandmother into undergrowth.

The court was then shown footage of Lazar returning to the bus stop alone 31 minutes later, with Ms Rawlings' white handbag slung over his shoulder.

Footage then shows Mr Lazar rifling through her belongings before discarding the bag on the pavement.

A local dog walker discovered Ms Rawlings' naked body the following day.

The manual labourer, branded "evil" by Ms Rawlings's family, appeared at the Old Bailey via video link on Monday from HMP Frankland.

He pleaded guilty to raping Ms Rawlings on the same evening as her killing.

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At his sentencing in 2022, the court heard how Ms Rawlings had visited King George Hospital in Chadwell Heath complaining of a headache after suffering a head injury on the evening of May 3.

Having left hospital without being seen, Ms Rawlings then boarded the EL3 bus just after 11pm where she met Lazar.

The court heard how the mother-of-two, who had been staying with her daughter in Witham, Essex, at the time, disembarked the bus when it terminated, alongside her killer.

CCTV footage presented in court shows the pair engaging in a brief conversation, before Lazar and the victim disappear from view.

Following the attack, Lazar boarded another bus, eventually arriving home shorty after 1am.

A post-mortem examination found Ms Rawlings died from neck compression and a blunt force head injury.

At the initial sentencing hearing, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC suggested a possible "sexual motive" for the murder.

She cited bruises on Ms Rawlings inner thighs as evidence, in addition to the fact she was found naked.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC directed that the defendant should be brought to court for sentencing.

Lazar will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on March 28.