GUILTY UK - Maria Rawlings, 45, murdered, Romford, Essex, 3 May 2021 *arrest*

[Legally Bland]

Hi, Does anyone know if the plea hearing went ahead on the 13th? I cant find any info about it at all.

It doesn't look like it.



https://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/crown-court-daily/14/lists/2021-08-13

 

[JuicyLucy]

Hi, Does anyone know if the plea hearing went ahead on the 13th? I cant find any info about it at all.

It was certainly listed on the day, but I don't know the outcome. I emailed the court on Friday but have yet to hear back.

*Edited to add that I've just emailed to ask again and also asked if there's a provisional trial date yet. Will report back!

 

[Tr4cy]

Thanks Legally Bland & Juicy Lucy. If it did go ahead, I cant find anything about it in MSM at all.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Just had a reply:

"No plea taken at this hearing, next listed for PTPH 12/11/21. No trial date yet been set."

[PTPH = Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing]

I'm wondering if pleas have been postponed pending psychiatric reports.

JMO

 

[Dotta]

Just had a reply:

"No plea taken at this hearing, next listed for PTPH 12/11/21. No trial date yet been set."

[PTPH = Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing]

I'm wondering if pleas have been postponed pending psychiatric reports.

JMO

Thanks a lot! Is it Dec or Nov? In Poland we write day and then month haha

 

[JuicyLucy]

Thanks a lot! Is it Dec or Nov? In Poland we write day and then month haha

12 November!

 

[Tortoise]

Central Criminal Court 14 T20217139
Valentin Lazar
Details: Plea and Trial Preparation - Hearing finished for VALENTIN LAZAR - 10:47

 

[Dotta]

So what is the outcome of the plea?

 

[Skigh]

Man, 21, pleads GUILTY to murder of woman, 45, found dead in bush in Romford

A MAN has today pleaded guilty to murdering a mum who was found dead in a bush earlier this year.

Valentin Lazar, 21, admitted strangling and beating Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, to death in Romford, East London, in May.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Man, 21, pleads GUILTY to murder of woman, 45, found dead in bush in Romford

A MAN has today pleaded guilty to murdering a mum who was found dead in a bush earlier this year.

Valentin Lazar, 21, admitted strangling and beating Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, to death in Romford, East London, in May.

I didn't expect that. I expected a delay for psychiatric assessments and a NG plea. The link provides a bit of detail but I would very much like to understand more about him and his state of mind and motivations. I hope more will come out at the sentencing hearing but because this case was never as high-profile as some other cases from around the same time, I can't help wondering if the media won't cover it in the same blow-by-blow detail for those of us not in the courtroom.

Maria's murder really affected me for reasons I still can't quite put my finger on. I was blown away by the fact that we were able to watch on CCTV her last moments alive. I'm glad she and her family have had justice today.

 

[Legally Bland]

Man, 21, pleads GUILTY to murder of woman, 45, found dead in bush in Romford

A MAN has today pleaded guilty to murdering a mum who was found dead in a bush earlier this year.

Valentin Lazar, 21, admitted strangling and beating Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, to death in Romford, East London, in May.

From the link:

Sentencing was adjourned until January 10 next year.

 

[Dotta]

Man, 21, pleads GUILTY to murder of woman, 45, found dead in bush in Romford

A MAN has today pleaded guilty to murdering a mum who was found dead in a bush earlier this year.

Valentin Lazar, 21, admitted strangling and beating Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, to death in Romford, East London, in May.

Thank you!
I was wondering and waiting imatiently.

 

[Teeniesmum]

Man, 21, pleads GUILTY to murder of woman, 45, found dead in bush in Romford

A MAN has today pleaded guilty to murdering a mum who was found dead in a bush earlier this year.

Valentin Lazar, 21, admitted strangling and beating Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, to death in Romford, East London, in May.

God Bless Maria, I still don't understand why she was naked.

 

[JuicyLucy]

God Bless Maria, I still don't understand why she was naked.

I posted several times back in May about how unsatisfactory I thought it was that it took four days for the Met to open a murder enquiry, and everything that's come out since - at the inquest and now following the guilty plea - has only reinforced that view.

How the dead body of a naked woman, beaten so severely that half her ribcage was fractured and left abandoned in an urban shubbery did not immediately suggest foul play I can't even begin to imagine.

I'm glad that the Met got their man (although he didn't exactly make it hard for them, leaving a trail of DNA, CCTV and discarded belongings at the scene) but Maria's case is a really sobering reminder of the fact that some victims are still given higher priority than others, and it really sucks imo.

 

[Dotta]

His mugshot!
His stare is so defiant!

 

[JuicyLucy]

His mugshot!
His stare is so defiant!

He's very dead-eyed, isn't he. Several people commented at the time that he showed some signs of dissociative behaviour, and his claims of amnesia might back that up, although my kneejerk reaction is to disbelieve it. The myriad social media accounts suggested identity issues too. I would be very interested to know what his psychiatric reports revealed. I hope more detail will come out in January at the sentencing hearing.

JMO

 

[Dotta]

He's very dead-eyed, isn't he. Several people commented at the time that he showed some signs of dissociative behaviour, and his claims of amnesia might back that up, although my kneejerk reaction is to disbelieve it. The myriad social media accounts suggested identity issues too. I would be very interested to know what his psychiatric reports revealed. I hope more detail will come out in January at the sentencing hearing.

JMO

Yes, amnesia is connected to dissociative personality.

It is interesting that he is aware of it.

 

[Legally Bland]

Sentencing was supposed to be yesterday. There was a hearing -

Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) 10 T20217139
Valentin Lazar
Details: - No Information To Display -
For Mention and to Fix - Case Started - 10:01
For Mention and to Fix - Hearing finished for VALENTIN LAZAR - 10:14
https://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/crown-court-daily/14/lists/2022-01-10​

- but it's now sometime in February -

A killer who murdered a grandmother after following her off a bus will be sentenced next month. Valentin Lazar, 20, beat and strangled Maria Rawlings, 45, after they both got off the EL3 bus in Little Heath, Romford, east London, shortly after 11pm on May 3 last year.
February sentence for killer – Court News UK​

 

[Skigh]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-evil-predator-who-killed-26128836

an evil predator has been jailed at the Old Bailey for life for the murder of 45-year-old Maria Rawlings, who had been walking alone.

The mum-of-two was strangled and attacked with a wooden stick embedded with nails and a knife then left naked in undergrowth in Romford, east London, in May last year.
Labourer Valentin Lazar, 21, who pleaded guilty to her murder, was branded evil by the victim's family as he was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC sentenced Lazar to life in jail with a minimum term of 23 years and six months.

He said: "This murder involved an intoxicated woman alone late at night and she was particularly vulnerable.

"This was a savage and sustained attack and a high degree of pain and suffering was inflicted prior to death."


The court previously heard that Ms Rawlings, suffered 13 fractures during the brutal attack, and was followed off a bus and targeted by Lazar because she was a vulnerable woman alone at night, it was alleged.

 

[Dotta]

I hope he will not be released at the age of 44.
He is a monster - using a plank with nails is simply evil.
I don't even want to think what this poor poor woman suffered before her death
RIP at last.