Lucasz Grabowski: Pair jailed for killing man who stole cigarettes

Tomasz Urbaniak and Krzystof Solosciuk denied murder but were found guilty of manslaughter

Two men have been jailed for killing a man after he stole a haul of illegal cigarettes worth £300,000 from them.

Lukasz Grabowski, 32, was found near Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with serious head injuries on 21 November 2018 and died later that day.

Krzystof Solosciuk and Tomasz Urbaniak were previously found guilty of manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.

Solusciak has been sentenced to seven years in prison and Urbaniak to 12 years and six months.

Thirty-nine-year-old Solusciak, of Pound Drive, Bristol, had denied murder, along with Urbaniak, 36, of no fixed address.

Lucasz Grabowski died after he was left at the door of a hospital with serious injuries

The trial heard how the killing was part of the "fallout" from a plot to import illegal cigarettes from Ukraine.

The cigarettes were stored temporarily in a warehouse in Luton, before Mr Grabowski drove a van to transport them to Bristol, "effectively stealing them from an organised crime group", the court heard.

The jury was told Mr Grabowski, from Bristol, was attacked by three men in an alleyway at the back of the Edward Hotel in Gloucester, where they had all been staying last November.

Mr Grabowski was dumped 45 minutes later near the entrance to the hospital in Great Western Road.

He had suffered serious injuries and could not be resuscitated.

The trial heard Lukasz Grabowski had stolen £300,000 of illegal cigarettes from a crime gang

Det Ch Insp Ruth Mather said Mr Grabowski had "clearly got in with a bad crowd" and had "tried to solve his own financial problems by stealing from them".

A European arrest warrant has been issued for a third suspect, Krystian Czelewicz.