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 worker who murdered a grandmother after following her off a bus has had his sentence increased by five years after admitting to 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 bushes in Romford, east London, in May 2021.

CCTV captured Lazar getting off the bus with the mother-of-two before leading her to some bushes where he stripped, assaulted and strangled her.

An autopsy revealed that she died after compression in her neck. She also had injuries to her mouth, chest and knee, as well as 15 broken 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.”

Mrs Rawlings (pictured above), 45, from Chelmsford, Essex, was found dead in Little Heath, Romford, in May by a man walking his dog

Ms Rawlings, pictured, suffered injuries to her mouth, chest and knee and 15 broken ribs after a violent 30-minute 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, shoes and bank cards nearby.

Lazar, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years and six months in February 2022 after admitting murder.

The killer’s lawyer said at the time she could provide no explanation or motive for his brutal attack, but he later admitted he wanted to rape the defenseless grandmother.

He was given a consecutive five-year prison sentence at the end of his minimum term.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC, 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 defenseless grandmother has caused me and my family a lifetime of pain.’

Her daughter Charlee Rawlings said she was “a fun-loving, loving soul who would never hurt anyone.”

Lazar appeared at the Old Bailey today via video link from HMP Frankland, wearing a gray tracksuit.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: ‘The position is that, although the body was found naked, there was no positive evidence that there was any sexual motive for the attack.

‘And then, while in HMP Belmarsh, Mr Lazar was interviewed for an in-detention risk assessment and within it he made admissions which lead to the current charge.

‘The suspect was interrogated through an interpreter by a probation officer in custody and during that interrogation he admitted that he also raped her at the time of the murder.

He told the probation officer: ‘I pushed her to the ground and at that moment I wanted to have sex with her as she lay on the ground.

‘I saw her trying to shout for help, so I punched 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 didn’t have sex with her.

He replied, “Okay, I had sex with her, but no one knows until this is the first time I tell you this.

‘She started screaming and I didn’t know what to do, so I started hitting her, but she wasn’t dead. I looked and saw that she was not 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.”

Maria Rawlings’ family (left to right) daughter Charlee, father Tony Rawlings and daughter Katie outside the Old Bailey

Flowers left at Little Health in Romford where Mrs Rawlings was found dead. A bouquet had a message attached to it that read: “Mama. I love you now, forever and ever’

When later interviewed by police, he said: ‘I thought about stealing something, I wanted to take her handbag but she wouldn’t let go so I punched her in the face and she fell.

‘She was drunk, but I was still drunk.

‘I thought: there is a woman, I have to have sex with her.’

He said she started screaming, told her to shut up and punched her in the face five times.

“She still wouldn’t shut up, so I got tired of hitting her in the face again and went quiet and her nose started bleeding.

‘When I saw the blood I panicked. “I didn’t want to kill her, I just wanted her to shut up or hurt her so badly that she went to the hospital.”

He said he ejaculated on the floor because he calculated that the rain would mean it would wash away.

Lazar told police he told them because he wanted to “relieve himself.”

Ms Rawlings, who had a history of alcoholism, was drunk and on her way home after being discharged from hospital without treatment.

Lazar, who came to Britain aged 18, was filmed initially speaking to Ms Rawlings after they got off the bus, before taking her arm and leading her into the bushes.

He emerged from the bushes 31 minutes later and briefly went back inside to retrieve the victim’s handbag.

“He was described by the driver of the bus he got on as looking like someone on medication and his eyes were very wide and tight,” Mr Emlyn Jones said.

The court heard that a dog walker discovered Ms Rawlings’ body in bushes the next day.

“She was naked, she clearly had very serious injuries to her face and it was observed that she had a shoe print on her chest,” Mr Emlyn Jones said.

A public call led to the Romanian’s arrest after a fellow countryman of Lazar commented on an ITV London article shared on Twitter saying he knew who the suspect was.

A post-mortem examination revealed that the victim, who died as a result of strangulation and blunt force trauma, had lived for ‘at least an hour’ after the assault.

She had horrific facial injuries, likely caused by Lazar hitting her with a blood-stained piece of wood with protruding nails found at the scene.

When police arrested Lazar on May 9, he claimed he had no memory of the attack, adding: “I don’t remember what happened yesterday.”

Ms Rawlings’ daughter Charlee previously said in a victim impact statement: ‘I don’t think I actually know where to start to explain the impact my mother’s murder has had on me.

‘My mother was my best friend. I am 17 years old and live with my mother.

“We were best friends, we talked about everything, we shared everything in our lives.”

Mrs Rawlings had attended the King George Hospital in Chadwell Heath complaining of a headache after suffering a head injury on the evening of May 3 last year.

After leaving hospital without being seen, Ms Rawlings, who had alcohol problems, boarded a bus just after 11pm where she crossed paths with Lazar.

The mother-of-two, who was staying with her daughter in Witham, Essex, before she was brutally murdered.

Judge Lucraft convicted the Romanian of the murder two years ago, calling it a “savage and sustained attack” involving a “high degree of pain and suffering.”

‘I think it was with the intent to kill.

‘Maria Rawlings was naked, and that is additional humiliation and degradation.’

Lazar, of Hockley Avenue, East Ham, admitted rape.