Valentin Lazar: Murderer given extra jail time for raping victim

A man who murdered a vulnerable mother-of-two has been jailed for a further five years for her rape.

Valentin Lazar, 23, was handed a life sentence in February 2022 for killing Maria Rawlings, 45, in Romford, east London, on 4 May 2021.

Ms Rawlings suffered multiple injuries when she was attacked after leaving King George Hospital in Ilford.

Lazar, formerly of Newham, appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from HMP Frankland to be sentenced for rape.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC said while Lazar was at Belmarsh prison in March 2022 he had admitted to a probation officer that he had raped Ms Rawlings.

As a result he was interviewed by police and charged with rape, to which he pleaded guilty on 11 March this year.

"In the admissions you made you said you removed Maria's clothing before then raping her," said Judge Lucraft.

"You knew Maria was not consenting to sexual intercourse and that then having killed her you took her handbag to make it look like a robbery."

The court heard that at the time of Lazar's sentencing for murder there was not enough evidence to establish any sexual motive or conduct and the starting point for his original sentence would have been higher.

Judge Lucraft sentenced Lazar to five years' imprisonment, to run consecutively to the minimum sentence of 23 years and six months he is already serving.

"That means you will start to serve this consecutive sentence at the end of the minimum term; in effect it defers the point at which you can first be considered for release by the Parole Board," he explained.

In mitigation, defence barrister Christopher Whitehouse said that Lazar's confession was "voluntary and unforced", and that he had wanted to "unburden himself".

Mr Whitehouse added it was to be hoped Lazar's guilty plea and sentence for rape would "usher in a degree of finality for the victim's family".

Judge Lucraft said Ms Rawlings' father Tony had spoken of her in a victim impact statement as being "the strong one, very generous, a kind person who thought a lot of her elders and that she was always offering to help".

Her father had also said that "15 minutes of anger towards a defenceless grandmother had caused him and his family a lifetime of pain".

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