Convicted murderer sentenced for prison rape

A convicted murderer who admitted raping his vulnerable victim has been jailed for a further five years.

In May 2021, Valentin Lazar, 23, attacked Maria Rawlings, 45, before leaving her in bushes in Romford, east London.

In February 2022, the manual laborer pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 23 years and six months.

The following month, Lazar, formerly of Newham, east London, admitted to an officer at Belmarsh Prison that he had also raped Ms Rawlings.

On Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft sentenced Lazar to an additional five years in prison, to run consecutively to life in prison.

The judge said: “In your statement you said you took off Maria’s clothes before raping her.

“You knew Maria had not consented to sex and you killed her and then took her handbag to make it look like a robbery.”

A further sentence effectively delays the date by which the defendant can be considered for release.

The court heard there was not enough evidence to prove Lazar had any sexual motive when he was sentenced for murder, raising the starting point for the original sentence.

Christopher Whitehouse said Lazar wanted to “take a burden off himself” and hoped the guilty plea would “bring some closure to the victim’s family”.

The victim’s father Tony said his “15 minutes of rage” against his defenseless grandmother had caused him and his family a lifetime of pain.

At Lazar’s 2022 sentencing, the court heard Ms Rawlings went to King George’s Hospital in Chadwell Heath complaining of headaches after suffering a head injury on the evening of May 3, 2021.

Ms Rawlings was discharged from hospital without treatment and boarded a bus just after 11pm, her route crossing Lazar’s.

The mother-of-two, who had been living with her daughter in Witham, Essex, got off the bus with the killer when it terminated.

They appeared on CCTV and had a brief conversation before Lazar grabbed the victim’s arm and guided him towards some bushes before they disappeared from view.

Thirty-one minutes later, he emerged from the bushes alone, with Ms Rawlings’ white handbag slung over his shoulder.

He rummaged through the bag before throwing it on the pavement, the court heard.

After the attack, Lazar boarded another bus and eventually returned home just after 1 a.m.