09-07-2025
EXCLUSIVE Latvian serial rapist who attacked and murdered London A-level student, 17, will cost taxpayers another £2m to keep behind bars for rest of his life - because if he is deported he may walk free
A Latvian serial rapist who attacked and murdered a 17-year-old A-Level student in London is set to cost UK taxpayers £2million more behind bars.
Attempts to deport Viktors Dembovskis to his native country had to be abandoned because it could not be guaranteed he would not be released there, following the murder he carried out in Sudbury Hill, north-west London.
His victim Jeshma Raithatha was killed as she walked home from school three days before her 18th birthday.
After her family were assured Dembovskis could never be released, he now must spend the rest of his life in British custody.
At his trial in March 2006, it emerged that the Russian-speaking car wash worker had been allowed into the UK despite being a convicted sex attacker in his native Latvia.
He had previously been convicted in his homeland in 1990 and 1999 for raping two women at knifepoint.
Dembovskis was given three life sentences and told he would never be released after being convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering Jeshma on May 16th 2005.
MailOnline has been told by the Ministry of Justice the killer was considered for repatriation to Latvia but the move was shelved as it was feared he could be freed.
Dembovskis has a nominal parole date of March 2099 as he is on a rare whole-life tariff. However, under the Latvian criminal justice system, this could not be enforced.
It means that Dembovskis, 62, has to be kept in the UK until he dies. On average a prison place costs £54,000 a year, but maximum security inmates cost far more.
The average age for a UK male to live is 82 and a half years, which the killer will reach in 2045 - meaning, if he lives until then, the cost to the taxpayer would be more than £2.1million across 39 years.
The 2015 ruling was made under the Tory government led by Prime Minister David Cameron and despite the UK leaving the European Union in 2016, the impasse between the UK Criminal Justice System and Latvia remains the same.
The case highlights some of the problems of deporting convicted foreign prisoners and comes in the wake of a pledge by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to speed up deportations.
She introduced new legislation on June 25 to change the Early Removal Scheme with the promise of 'swifter deportation to ease capacity crisis and stop wasting taxpayers' money and foreign prisoners to be 'eligible for deportation earlier into their prison sentence'.
She said: 'With prisons close to bursting, I'm clear we shouldn't be giving bed and board to foreign criminals with no right to be here.
'These changes will get more of them on planes out of the country much sooner, saving taxpayers' money and keeping our streets safe as part of our Plan for Change.'
The deportation of Dembovskis was considered under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, which is used alongside the ERS to deport prisoners. In the case of the PTA, it can only be enforced if the prisoner and host country agree.
However, the Home Office concluded that it was not right to apply for a transfer under PTA rules, as Dembovskis might choose to be deported in the knowledge he could be released in Latvia.
A source with knowledge of the case said: 'It seems common sense to ensure that the UK's most dangerous foreign prisoners serve all of their sentence in the UK, rather than take the lottery of being transferred to their home countries.
'It would cause considerable anger if Dembovskis was freed in Latvia, especially for the parents of the victim.
'However, that has to be balanced against the cost to the State of keeping him locked up in the UK. In this case, it was considered better to ensure he remained behind bars.'
Jurors heard Dembovskis lay in wait for Jeshma, choosing a 'den' in thick undergrowth where they would not be seen.
She fought desperately to escape but he raped her twice before stabbing her through the heart and hiding her body in undergrowth, where it was discovered eight days later.
After the murder, Dembovskis fled to his hometown of Livani, 90 miles south-east of the Latvian capital Riga.
But he had dropped the keys to his bedsit, just streets from Jeshma's home in Greenford, beside her body.
In his room, detectives found her bloodstained jewellery in his jacket, and established that four days after the murder he had bought a one-way coach ticket to Latvia, where they found him with the help of local police on June 2 2005.
It was only then that detectives discovered he had served two jail sentences for rapes in Latvia. In 1990 he stalked a kindergarten teacher and dragged her along a riverbank at knifepoint before attacking her, and in 1997 he raped another woman.
He was extradited to Britain to stand trial, and the jury, who were told of his violent history at the start of the two-week case, convicted him unanimously after two hours' deliberation.
The case caused a national outcry and his victim's parents demanded to know why he was allowed into Britain despite being a convicted sex attacker.
In a statement released outside the court, Jeshma's parents Suresh and Manjula Raithatha said: 'The man who took Jeshma's life in this senseless manner has a violent past. He spent time in prison in his own country for the rape of two women. Yet he was easily allowed in this country.
'We have to ask how and why this came about. What checks were made about his background before he was allowed to set foot on British soil? Although the family is relieved that justice has been done, our loss is for ever, this man's actions cannot be undone.
Sentencing Dembovskis, Judge Beaumont told him: 'You have not displayed one jot of remorse for the appalling crimes you committed against that girl or the consequences to her family.
'You have twisted, lied and cast about for any excuse you could think of to avoid your responsibility for the abduction of a 17-year-old girl as she made her way home in broad daylight.'
Det Insp John Crossley, the investigating officer at the time, paid tribute to the family's bravery and dignity.
He added: 'Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Dembovskis has fought the case all the way putting the family through the trauma of a trial.'
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: 'Since July 2024, we've removed 3,590 foreign offenders – a 16 per cent increase on the same period last year – and we're going even further to speed up removals.
'However, it is vital that foreign offenders who commit the most serious crimes face justice - either in the UK or, where appropriate, in their home country.'
The murder of Jeshma shattered her family and four-years later, her tormented younger sister Nishma Raithatha, 15, who is said never to have come to terms with the killing, leapt to her death from the top of a car park.
