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The detective behind the investigation into one of Wales’ most shocking murders says why it happened may never be known.

Detective Superintendent Peter Jones revealed how his officers answered a call to a fire on a hotel forecourt only to find, to their horror, they were dealing with something much worse.

Det Supt Jones and his investigation team at Gwent Police picked up awards last week for their work in solving the murder of Lithuanian-born Ramunas Raulinautis, 34, who was beaten up and set on fire in Newport in 2011.

But more than a year after his four attackers were jailed at Cardiff Crown Court for a total of 100 years, Det Supt Jones admitted the question of motive remains unanswered.

He said: “Because the four men chose not to answer questions, they chose not to give an explanation – or at least not an explanation that we could rely on – of why they did what they did.

“We can prove what they did to him, but the why will perhaps always remain unanswered.

“We try to get as many answers for the victim’s family as we can but there are occasions when sometimes you just can’t establish all the reasons why, and unfortunately this is one of those.”

At the end of a 17-week trial last year, Kamil Semrau, 28, of Chepstow Road, Newport, and Pawel Lysonik, 22, of Capel Crescent, Newport, were found guilty of murder, attempted murder and arson.

Lukas Kalkowski, 30, of Laundry Road, Pontypridd, and Stanislaw Gliszczynski, 31, of no fixed abode, were found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent and attempted grievous bodily harm.

The court heard how the four had been drinking with Ramunas in Newport before subjecting him to a brutal attack in which he suffered brain damage, multiple rib fractures and a perforated bowel.

The men dumped his unconscious body outside the Gateway Express Hotel where he lay for around two hours before Semrau and Lysonik returned and stuffed shredded paper into Ramulas’ clothes before setting him on fire.

He died three days later.

Recalling his involvement in the case, Det Supt Jones said he was on call as a senior investigating officer when the 999 call was made at around 10pm on March 9, 2011.

The call reported a fire on the forecourt of the hotel on Chepstow Road, but - to the horror of the first officers on the scene - they discovered that, instead of a simple fire they were dealing with something much worse.

“It was reported as a fire but when they arrived it became clear very quickly that somebody had been very badly beaten and potentially set on fire,” Det Supt Jones said.

A trail of blood was quickly discovered leading from the scene to a nearby flat, in which officers found the first man they arrested, Kamil Semrau.

Officers searching the flat then found multiple drinks containers and clothes of various sizes stuffed in a washing machine. And when forensics tests came back, their hunch proved right – five men, including the victim, had been in the flat that night.

Officers quickly identified the names of the three fugitives and discovered one had recently bought a bus ticket. Using CCTV of the bus journey and mobile phone data, they were able to track the three’s journey from Newport, to Cardiff, to Birmingham, Leicester and eventually to London.

Some weeks later two of the three fugitives – Lysonik and Kalkowski – were discovered hiding out at a flat in London.

“Incredibly, weeks and weeks after the event we were able to recover DNA from their clothes that proved their presence during the attack,” Det Supt Jones said.

“That was fantastic in terms of the investigation, but it left us with one person outstanding and it was incredibly important to the success of the future trial that all stood trial together.”

Focusing on areas of London where phone calls had been made, teams of officers handed out hundreds of wanted posters in English and Polish in the hope that someone would recognise Gliszczynski’s face and get in touch.

And the hard work paid off. A member of the public saw him in a betting shop and approached two police officers outside.

“Those officers stopped and spoke to him and arrested him in relation to fitting the description,” said Det Supt Jones.

“We confirmed we had the right person and brought him back to Gwent for the interview process.”

The three fugitives refused to comment throughout their interviews, meaning police – and Ramunas’ mother back in Lithuania - never had an explanation for why they did what they did.

But while the manhunt was underway Det Supt Jones and his team had been patiently building their case so that, once all four suspects had been arrested, they had enough forensic evidence to charge them without needing an admission of guilt.

Another twist came when, a few days after Ramunas was set on fire, it emerged a similar attack had happened in Newport just two days before.

Stanislaw Galeza had been beaten up at his Maindee home and his mattress had been set on fire. He was rescued by a woman who dragged him out of the house.

Police were later able to forensically link the two cases.

The subsequent 15-week trial was one of the longest in Gwent Police’s history, with each of the four defendants – all of whom were Polish - needing translators and separate legal teams to represent them.

Det Supt Jones said: “Nobody admitted it. Semrau put himself at the scene but effectively blamed people other than himself, but the others didn’t admit it and it was ultimately up to us – the prosecution – to present the case as best as we could.”

On May 16, 2012, a judge at Cardiff Crown Court sentenced all four to a total of 100 years in prison.

Det Supt Jones added: “To be able to ring Ramulas’ mother, who was clearly very upset, and tell her the men who killed her son had been found guilty and would be going to prison was incredible.”

Bravery awards for four other officers

Four police officers who were first to arrive at the scene of the flat fire two days before Ramunas Raulinautis was attacked have also been given bravery awards.

Inspector Martyn Smith, Sergeant Stephen Drayton, PC Thomas Seagrim and PC David Nancarrow were recommended for the awards after they ran into the burning building, putting their own lives in danger.

Inspector Smith said he was driving to Maindee police station in Newport just after midnight on March 7, 2011, when he saw a red glow in the window of a flat in nearby Livingstone Place.

“I immediately thought there was a lava lamp in the bedroom window, but then I realised, ‘hang on, that bedroom’s on fire’,” he said.

“I called up the police station on my radio and drove towards the flat.

“When I got there a man and a woman were in the street walking towards me. The man looked like he had been assaulted.”

The pair – who later turned out to be victim Stanislaw Galeza and the woman who helped him – were shaken up and unable to speak any English to explain to Inspector Smith what was happening.

“Because of this I just decided I was going to have to go in, so I entered the house and ran up the stairs but the heat was already so intense I could feel the air pressure changing and I knew I wouldn’t be able to go any further,” he said.

Meanwhile, the three other officers arrived on the scene and rescued a man living in the ground floor flat.

Inspector Smith was still inside when Sergeant Drayton shouted: “Get out, it’s going to blow”.

He said: “I ran out a lot more quickly than I ran in. As I ran the bedroom window exploded and flames shot out of the window and started licking the eves of the roof.

“I didn’t know if anybody was in that bedroom at the time, and the speed of that fire was just amazing.

“It is so fortunate that no one was in there and I think the main thing was we stopped the fire spreading and no one else was affected by it.

“It’s nice to receive an award – but it happened so quickly you don’t get an awful lot of time to think about what you’re doing.”