The rapist and murderer of a 30- year-old Indian-origin woman in the UK was sentenced to life in prison today.
Pardeep Kaur, a hotel housekeeper, was attacked by Vadims Ruskuls as she walked to work in south-west London. Her dead body was found a week later near Heathrow Airport.
Ruskuls, a Latvian national, was told by Judge Richard Marks at the Old Bailey Court today that he will spend at least 30 years in prison before being deported to his country of origin.
"This was a truly shocking and wicked offence of the utmost gravity. Anyone who could do what you did must be regarded as extremely dangerous. What a dreadful way for Pardeep Kaur, a decent, hard-working young woman, to die," he said in his ruling.
"It is apparent from the state of undress in which her body was found that the motive of this attack must have been sexual in that you either in the course or immediately following having sexually assaulted her, you killed her and thereafter did your level best to conceal her body," he said.
Kaur's husband, Rachpal Singh, told the court in his victim impact statement that he thought about what his wife suffered all the time.
Kaur and her husband both worked long hours to save money to send to their six-year-old daughter, who lives with her grandparents in India.
"During this trial, I have seen photos of her clothing in waste land. It has been six months since she was murdered but I have not forgotten her for even six seconds and I always think about what she must have gone through on that dark morning when she was killed.
"We hoped for a good life here with our daughter, but something terrible happened to us and now our dreams are shattered. The circumstances of Pardeep's death will always haunt me because Vadims Ruskuls has not given an explanation," Singh said.
The body of Kaur, who worked as a housekeeper at Sheraton Skyline Hotel in Harlington area of west London, was discovered decomposed and hidden under a sleeping bag and branches in wasteland five days after she was reported missing on October 17 last year.
The court was told her screams would have been drowned out by heavy traffic on the main highway nearby.
Ruskuls, a homeless drifter, was caught on CCTV stalking Kaur and then later dragging what looked like a human body.
Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson, from the force's Homicide and Major Crime Command said: "This has been a truly shocking and horrendous case and Ruskuls has proved himself to be a violent and dangerous rapist and murderer".
"Pardeep was walking to work, as she did every day, when she suffered a horrific fate at the hands of Ruskuls, who sexually attacked and killed his defenceless victim before leaving her body in woodland. It is everybody's worst nightmare," Stevenson said.
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