Jail for men who killed Wisbech man and burned his body

Two men convicted of killing a Wisbech man and burned his body have both been jailed .

Donatas Umbrasas, 27, of Albany Road, Wisbech admitted murdering Mindaugas Arlauskas in May this year and Tomas Lazdauskas, 24, of Milner Road was convicted of manslaughter.

Today (Friday) both men appeared at Cambridge Crown Court for sentencing with Umbrasas being given life in prison with a minimum term of 15 years, and Lazdauskas being handed 10-years in jail.

At a previous hearing the court heard how Lazdauskas had lured Mindaugas, 28, a work colleague to his home where he was beaten to death.

His burned body was found by a member of the public in an industrial estate in Wisbech at 5am on May 9.

The night before, Lazdauskas had invited Mindaugas to his house in Milner Road, Wisbech, following an earlier dispute involving two other women.

Mindaugas arrived to find Lazdauskas had been drinking in the house with another man, Umbrasas.

The three men made their way to an upstairs bedroom, but it wasn’t long before tempers began to flare and violence erupted.

Umbrasas swung for the victim, knocking him to the floor before repeatedly slapping and punching him in the face.

He then dragged Mindaugas outside to the garden, where he beat him to death with a metal pole, garden chair and other items he could find in the garden.

The two men then used Mindaugas’s bike to transport his body out of the house on to the street outside.

CCTV images captured the men as they pushed the body to a nearby industrial estate, where they tried to destroy evidence of the murder by setting the body alight.

A post mortem examination carried out by Dr Ben Swift at Peterborough City Hospital concluded the victim had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.

Lazdauskas stood trial at Peterborough Crown Court and was found not guilty of murder November 2, but previously had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Umbrasas, of Albany Road, Wisbech, had admitted the murder .

Both men were remanded until today's sentencing.

Detective Inspector Emma Pitts, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: "Because of the barbaric actions of Lazdauskas and Umbrasas, a young man has been struck down in the prime of his life.

"While it might not have been Lazdauskas’ intention to commit murder, he knowingly lured Mindaugas to his house, aware of the fact Umbrasas intended to hurt him.

"I hope this conviction brings some closure for Mr Arlauskas’s family."

In a tribute, Mindaugas’s parents said: “We are devastated by the sudden loss of our beloved son. He was much loved by us and our family and will be deeply missed.”