Investigation into death of man sees two men jailed for 20 years
Main article content
A police investigation into the death of a man - which led officers on an international manhunt - has ended with two men being jailed for a total of 20 years.
Marian Botea and Dragos Marin-Gugu were both convicted in August this year of the manslaughter of 42-year-old Dumitru-Nicolae Cherascu. Both were acquitted of murder.
Marian Botea (left) and Dragos Marin-Gugu
Mr Cherascu died in November 2022 after being found unconscious with serious head injuries in Tudor Road, Leicester.
An extensive investigation carried out by specialist detectives from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) Murder Investigation Team included reviewing hours of CCTV footage in order to gather vital evidence and teaming up with Romanian authorities to track down and extradite one of the men who had fled to the country after committing the crime.
The investigation also uncovered other criminal offending by 42-year-old Botea relating to the controlling of prostitution for financial gain.
The trial relating to the death of Mr Cherascu ended in August this year with Botea, of Cranmer Street, Leicester, being sentenced to 11 years imprisonment and Gugu, 26, of no fixed address, sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
Court restrictions were placed on reporting the conviction and sentencing at the time due to Botea standing trial for the separate offence of the controlling of prostitution for financial gain.
On day three of this trial, on Friday 10 November, Botea changed his plea and admitted the offence. Following his guilty plea these reporting restrictions have now been lifted.
The investigation into the death of Dumitru-Nicolae Cherascu
The murder trial in August had been told how police were alerted to the incident involving Mr Cherascu after he was found unconscious with serious head injuries in a courtyard in Tudor Road, Leicester, at around 11.30pm on Tuesday 29 November 2022.
Despite the efforts of hospital staff, Mr Cherascu died on Friday 2 December.
In the days and weeks following the assault, officers worked to piece together the events that led to his death and the movements of those involved.
Led by senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski, police were able to show the victim had been with Botea, Gugu and others during the evening of Tuesday 29 November, after leaving his home in Tudor Road.
Later that evening after spending time at an address nearby, Mr Cherascu tried to returned home but was stopped and assaulted by Botea.
Around 8.40pm, Mr Cherascu finally left the premises and made his way towards his home on foot.
The two defendants travelled by car to the same location.
Arriving a few minutes ahead of him – at around 8.55pm – the men attacked the victim in the street, knocking him to the ground and causing him to hit his head.
The pair then dragged him into the courtyard where he was found a few hours later by a passing member of the public who called an ambulance.
After carrying out the assault, the men stayed in the area for around 10 minutes before leaving in the car and driving to an address in Latimer Street.
A few hours later, at around 1.30am on Wednesday 30 November, CCTV showed Botea and two other men attended a casino in Leicester before he was arrested by police later that day.
Footage obtained of Gugu the day after the attack showed he left Leicester at around 4.45pm and travelled by taxi to Barking in East London, before heading to Dover in a minibus the following day.
At 12.45am on Friday 2 December, the minibus boarded a ferry to Calais and at around 3.45am was captured driving away from the French port.
Once Gugu was declared a suspect, detectives continued working behind the scenes to identify his whereabouts. At the start of the year they obtained information which proved he was in the Craiova area of Dolj County in Romania.
An international warrant for his arrest was granted and officers were able to work in collaboration with Romanian authorities to ensure, in March this year, Gugu was successfully arrested and brought back to the UK to be charged and stand trial.
How further separate offences were uncovered
Alongside the efforts to bring Gugu back to the country, detectives were also investigating a separate case against Botea – after uncovering evidence that showed he was controlling a group of Romanian women working as prostitutes.
From digital devices seized from his home address and subsequent financial checks, it was clear Botea was recruiting women to work for him, advertising their services and managing the premises they work from – in exchange for a percentage of the money the women were making.
A laptop owned by Botea included a number of images of women that were used to advertise sexual services, as well as multiple email addresses registered to an online classified ad website where the services were being offered.
A credit card found at the address was also found to be paying for the adverts.
When a force financial investigator delved into Botea’s earnings there was around a quarter of a million pounds of unexplained income – believed to be as a result of his criminal activity.
Following his guilty plea for the offence, Botea was given a 10 month sentence – this will run consecutively to the 11 years given for the manslaughter of Mr Cherascu.
DCI Mark Sinski said: “Piecing together the evidence for both investigations was complex and required the skills of many specialist officers and staff.
“After attacking Mr Cherascu, the Botea and Gugu chose not to get help. Instead they dragged him into a courtyard and left him alone before going about their evening as if nothing had happened.
“Gugu then left the county in the hope he would be able to avoid being caught by police but it is thanks to the effort and determination of the investigation team, colleagues in Romania and the Crown Prosecution Service he was located and extradited back.
“During this time, it also became apparent that Botea was also running a criminal enterprise by recruiting women as sex workers.
“Many of these women didn’t have much opportunity for other forms of employment so the promise of a place to stay and regular income would have been appealing – even if Botea was taking a large amount of the earnings in return.
“I am pleased that justice has now been done in both cases. My thoughts remain with Mr Cherascu’s family who lost a loved one as a result of the actions of the two men that evening.”
*A third man, Ionut Tudorneanu, was also charged with the murder of Mr Cherascu but was found not guilty at trial.
*Ana-Marie Dabija was charged alongside Botea for the offence of controlling of prostitution for financial gain. Following his guilty plea for the offence, the charges against Dabija were dropped.