A convicted murderer who was jailed for battering and strangling a vulnerable woman in shrubbery after their paths crossed on a bus has pleaded guilty to raping her.

Valentin Lazar, 23, attacked 45-year-old Maria Rawlings before leaving her naked in undergrowth in Romford, east London, on May 3 2021.

The manual labourer admitted the murder, and was branded “evil” by Ms Rawlings’s devastated family as he was sentenced at the Old Bailey in February 2022.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years and six months.

Lazar appeared at the Old Bailey on Monday via video link from HMP Frankland to plead guilty to raping Ms Rawlings on the same evening as her killing.

At his sentencing in 2022, the court heard how Ms Rawlings had visited King George Hospital in Chadwell Heath complaining of a headache after suffering a head injury on the evening of May 3.

Having left hospital without being seen, Ms Rawlings, got on a bus just after 11pm, where her path crossed with Lazar’s.

Maria Rawlings
Maria Rawlings was murdered in 2021 by Lazar (Handout/PA)

The mother-of-two, who had been staying with her daughter in Witham, Essex, got off the bus when it terminated, along with her killer.

They appeared on CCTV to engage in a brief conversation before Lazar guided his victim by the arm towards some shrubbery where they disappeared from view.

After 31 minutes, he emerged from the undergrowth alone, with Ms Rawlings’s white handbag slung over his shoulder.

He rifled through the bag then discarded it on the pavement, the court heard.

After the attack, Lazar boarded another bus, eventually arriving home after 1am.

A post-mortem examination found Ms Rawlings died from neck compression and a blunt force head injury.

The court heard there were more than 100 sites of blunt force trauma, 15 rib fractures, injuries from multiple blows to the head, defensive wounds to the hands and footprints consistent with being stood on.

At the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC suggested a possible “sexual motive” to the murder because Ms Rawlings had bruises on her inner thighs and was found naked.

Lazar, formerly of Newham, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey for rape on March 28.

The Recorder of London, judge Mark Lucraft KC, directed that the defendant should be brought to court for sentencing.