'Jealous' Leiston man guilty of stabbing neighbour to death

Oskars Kantors was found guilty of murder after a jury rejected his defence of diminished responsibility

A man has been jailed for a minimum of 21 years for murdering his neighbour in an attack motivated by jealousy.

Oskars Kantors, 29, fatally stabbed Agris Leigavnieks, 41, who was found at his home in Old School Close, in Leiston, Suffolk, in October 2022.

Kantors was found guilty after a two-week trial, which heard the defendant, who was armed with a knife, believed his victim had been having a relationship with his girlfriend.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Police were called to reports of an assault in Old School Close at 20:50 BST on 17 October last year.

Mr Leigavnieks was taken to Ipswich Hospital but died later. Kantors was arrested the same evening.

Agris Leigavnieks was found fatally stabbed at his home on Old School Close in Leiston

Kantors previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm on the same day as the stabbing.

A man, in his 50s, was repeatedly punched in the face at the home of Kantors' ex-girlfriend on Leiston's High Street at about 17:00, and he needed hospital treatment.

A woman, in her 20s, had her pony tail pulled and was picked up and thrown to the floor at another house on Old School Close while she was bathing her young child at about 20:20.

The prosecution said all three attacks had a common motive of jealousy and suspected relationships with the defendant's past or present girlfriends.

He was sentenced to an additional nine months for those attacks, which was added to his minimum jail term - meaning he must serve at least 21 years and nine months before being considered for release.

'Devastating cocktail'

In mitigation, defence counsel Rudi Fortson, KC, argued that Kantors had alcohol dependency syndrome which was a "recognised medical condition which did, to some degree, impair his ability to make rational decisions".

"He's never denied he was responsible for the killing... there is considerable remorse," he said.

Judge Martyn Levett said the attacks were "violent and wholly unjustified" and the carrying of the knife meant "the killing was conducted with a degree of premeditation".

He added that the case "gives an illustration of how knife crime devastates communities... jealousy and anger makes this a devastating cocktail".

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Ch Insp Matthew Connick said: "Kantors' jealousy over his girlfriend's previous relationship with Agris Leigavnieks, and his ex-girlfriend's new relationship at that time, all unravelled as he carried out his spree of attacks.

"The murder took place in a close-knit residential area of Leiston and the impact was felt by the majority of the people in Old School Close."

The court heard Kantors had one previous conviction for assaulting an emergency worker in the neighbouring coastal village of Sizewell.