Romanian killer, 23, who murdered 45-year-old grandmother with a wooden club embedded with nails has sentenced increased by five years after he admitted raping her
A Romanian labourer who murdered a grandmother after following her off a bus has had his sentenced increased by five years after he admitted raping her.
Valentin Lazar attacked 45-year-old Maria Rawlings with a wooden club embedded with nails and a knife before leaving her dying in undergrowth in Romford, east London, in May 2021.
CCTV captured Lazar exiting the bus with the mother-of-two before guiding her towards some bushes where he stripped, battered and strangled her.
A post-mortem revealed she had been killed following compression to her neck. She also had injuries to her mouth, chest and knee as well as 15 fractured ribs, and was found with more than 100 marks on her body.
At the time there was no evidence of rape but Lazar admitted this to a probation officer in prison saying he thought ‘there’s a woman there, I should have sex with her.’
Valentin Lazar attacked 45-year-old Maria Rawlings with a wooden club embedded with nails and raped her in undergrowth near a bus stop in Romford, east London, in May 2021
Mrs Rawlings (pictured above), 45, from Chelmsford, Essex, was found dead in Little Heath, Romford, by a man who was walking his dog in May
Ms Rawlings, pictured, suffered injuries to her mouth, chest and knee as well as 15 fractured ribs following a 30 minute violent attack by the then 20-year-old
After the 30 minute attack Lazar ran away with her white handbag to make it look like a robbery.
Police found her purse, footwear and bank cards, nearby.
Lazar, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years and six months in February 2022 after he admitted murder.
At the time the killer's lawyer said she could not provide an explanation or motive for his savage attack but he later admitted to wanting to rape the defenceless grandmother.
He was given a consecutive five year sentence to run at the end of his minimum term.
Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, the Recorder of London, said it was a ‘vicious and sustained attack.’
Ms Rawling’s father Tony Rawlings said in a victim impact statement: ‘Your 15 minutes of anger towards a defenceless grandmother has caused me and my family a lifetime of pain.’
Her daughter Charlee Rawlings said she was a ‘fun loving soul who would never cause harm to anyone.’
Lazar appeared at the Old Bailey today via video link from HMP Frankland wearing a grey tracksuit.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: ‘The position is that although the body was found naked there was no positive evidence there was any sexual motive to the attack.
‘And then, whilst in HMP Belmarsh Mr Lazar was interviewed for a risk assessment within custody and within that he made admissions which bring about the current charge.
‘The defendant was interviewed in custody via an interpreter by a probation officer and during that interview he admitted that at the time of the murder he had also raped her.
He told the probation officer: ‘I pushed her to the ground and at that very moment I wanted to have sex with her when she was down.
‘I saw she was trying to cry out for help so I slapped her in the face.
‘I took off her blouse and left her naked because I wanted to have sex with her.’
The officer asked why he did not have sex with her.
He replied: ‘Okay I had sex with her, but no-one knows this before this is the first time I’m telling you this.
‘She started screaming and I didn’t know what to do so I started punching her but she wasn’t dead, I looked and saw she wasn’t dead.
‘I wanted to call an ambulance but I wasn’t in my right mind. I took the handbag to make it look like a robbery.’
The family of Maria Rawlings (left to right) daughter Charlee, father Tony Rawlings and daughter Katie outside the Old Bailey
Flowers left at Little Health in Romford where Ms Rawlings was found dead. A message attached to one bouquet read: 'Mummy. I love you now, forever and always'
When later interviewed by police he said: ‘I was thinking of stealing something, I wanted to take her handbag but she wouldn’t let go so I slapped her in the face and she fell.
‘She was drunk but I was more drunk.
‘I thought, there’s a woman there, I should have sex with her.’
He said she started screaming and he told her to shut up and slapped her in the face five times.
‘She still wouldn’t keep quiet so I tired to punch her in the face one more time and went quiet and her nose started bleeding.
‘When I saw the blood I started panicking. I didn’t want to kill her, I just wanted her to shut up or to injure her so seriously she went to hospital.’
He said he ejaculated on the floor because he calculated that the rain would mean it would wash away.
Lazar told the police he had told them because he wanted to ‘unburden himself’.
Ms Rawlings, who had a history of alcoholism, was drunk and was on the way home after discharging herself from hospital without treatment.
Lazar, who came to the UK when he was 18, was filmed initially talking to Mrs Rawlings after they got off the bus, before grabbing hold of her arm and leading her into the bushes.
He emerged from the bushes 31 minutes later, briefly going back in to retrieve the victim’s handbag.
‘He was described by the driver of a bus he got on as having a drug like energy and his eyes were very wide and fixed,’ said Mr Emlyn Jones.
The court heard a dogwalker discovered Mrs Rawlings’ body in the bushes the following day.
‘She was naked, she had obviously very serious injuries to her face and it was observed she had what looked like a shoe print in on her chest,’ said Mr Emlyn Jones.
A public appeal led to the Romanian’s arrest after a compatriot of Lazar commented on an ITV London article shared on Twitter saying he knew who the suspect was.
A post-mortem examination showed that the victim, who died as a result of strangulation and blunt force trauma, had lived for ‘at least one hour’ after the assault.
She had horrific injuries to her face likely caused by Lazar beating her with a blood-stained piece of wood with nails sticking out found at the scene.
When police arrested Lazar on May 9, he claimed he had no memory of the attack, adding: ‘I can’t remember what happened yesterday’.
Mrs Rawlings’ daughter Charlee earlier said in a victim impact statement: ‘I do not think I actually know where to start to explain the impact my mum’s murder has had on me.
‘My mum was my best friend. I am 17 years old and lived with my mum.
‘We were best friends, we talked about everything, we shared everything in our lives.’
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 last year.
Having left hospital without being seen, Ms Rawlings, who had alcohol issues, got on a bus just after 11pm, where her path crossed with Lazar.
The mother-of-two, who had been staying with her daughter in Witham, Essex,before she was brutally murdered.
Sentencing the Romanian for the murder two years ago Judge Lucraft described it as a ‘savage and sustained attack’ with a ‘high degree of pain and suffering.
‘In my view, it was with the intention to kill.
‘Maria Rawlings was naked, and that is additional humiliation and degradation.’
Lazar, of Hockley Avenue, East Ham, admitted rape.
