Leicester: Two men jailed over city street attack killing

Marian Botea (left) and Dragos Marin-Gugu were convicted of manslaughter in August

Two men have been jailed for the manslaughter of a man found fatally injured in a street.

In November 2022, Dumitru-Nicolae Cherascu was discovered in Tudor Road, Leicester, dying three days later.

Marian Botea and Dragos Marin-Gugu were both convicted of manslaughter after a trial that ended in August this year.

Botea, 42, of Cranmer Street, Leicester, was jailed for 11 years and Gugu, 26, of no fixed address, was jailed for nine years.

Both were acquitted of murder after the trial at Leicester Crown Court.

Dumitru-Nicolae Cherascu was attacked and fell, hitting his head

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.

But Botea plead guilty to this offence on Friday - and was given a 10-month sentence, to run consecutively with the manslaughter term.

Leicestershire Police said the two men ambushed Mr Cherascu near his home, knocking him to the ground and causing him to hit his head.

CCTV tracked the movements of the suspects as they went to confront Mr Cherascu

The pair then dragged him into a courtyard, where he was found a few hours later by a passing member of the public who called an ambulance.

Botea was arrested by police later that day, officers said, but Gugu fled to Romania and was not captured until March this year.

In a statement issued by police, the wife of Mr Cherascu - known to his family as Nicu - said: "I'd never been happier in my life than when I was with Nicu. I miss him every day and still cry for him all the time.

"Not one day passes without us thinking or talking about him.

"He was my protector, he was so strong, I never thought anything like this would happen to him.

"They took my soul away; they took who I loved away from me. I'll never be the same again."

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 Botea's guilty plea for the offence, the charges against Dabija were dropped.