Murder charge man had been deported

A Lithuanian man found dead in prison while awaiting trial accused of killing the parents of a West Midlands Police officer had already been kicked out of the UK due to his criminal past, it emerged today.

Rimvydas Liorancas, aged 37, who was charged with murdering Carole and Avtar Kolar at their Birmingham home, was found hanged in his cell on Saturday.

It emerged today he had entered the UK illegally twice and was a convicted armed robber who had committed crimes across Europe.

He is said to have lived in Britain for almost a year before being sent back to Lithuania but he slipped back into Britain despite having no passport.

At the time of the murders he was on a "residence unknown" list of the Lithuanian government.

Sources said today that Liorancas had carried out building work at the Kolars' Handsworth Wood home with other Eastern Europeans before the tragedy. The couple were found on January 11 by their policeman son Jason, 37.

A manhunt was launched, and Liorancas was arrested and charged but the British authorities had no idea that Liorancas was even in the country until they seized him two weeks ago.

The father of two came from the village of Vadzgirys, 150 miles from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. It was reported today that his ex-wife Ingrida said he had never had a job and was involved in crime since he left school.

"He came from a good family, but he did nothing," she said.

"He was a thief, a burglar, a robber. He would steal anything. He drank a lot of alcohol. Almost everyone in the countryside drinks a lot. There's nothing else to do."

A month before the Kolars were murdered, Liorancas began doing some building work on their patio.

A family friend said: 'It's terrible to think he decided to attack them after he had been inside their house." An inquest was being opened today.