March 17, 2023 4.00 pm This story is over 21 months old

Man faces life behind bars after being convicted of Lincoln murder

Another was convicted of manslaughter

Kaspars Spiridonovs (left) and Andrejs Servutas (right). | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A man faces life imprisonment after he was found guilty of the murder of a man whose body was unceremoniously dumped in Lincoln’s River Witham.

The body of Igors Petrovs, 45, was found in the Waterside North area of Lincoln three days after his murder in August last year.

Kaspars Spiridonovs, 41, of Shuttleworth House, Stamp End, Lincoln, and Andrejs Servutas, 44, of Monks Road, Lincoln, both denied the murder of Mr Petrovs during the early hours of August 21, 2022.

A jury at Lincoln Crown Court this afternoon (Friday) found Servutas guilty of murder after deliberating for two days.

The jury cleared Spiridonovs of murder but convicted him of a charge of manslaughter.

Igors Petrovs, 45. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Christopher Donnellan KC, prosecuting, had alleged Mr Petrovs was beaten up by the two men and then unceremoniously dumped into the River Witham after his bike was also thrown into the water.

Much of the attack was caught on surrounding CCTV.

Spiridonovs denied both murder and manslaughter, telling the jury he did not join in the attack on Mr Petrovs or help to throw his body in the water.

All three men were known to each other and came from the same town in Latvia, with Mr Petrovs living in the Moorland Avenue area of Lincoln.

Servutas had admitted unlawfully killing Mr Petrovs and pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter before the trial.

Judge Simon Hirst adjourned sentence to a date to be fixed and told both defendants: “The jury have returned the verdicts you have heard. I am not going to sentence you today.

“I will sentence you as soon as I can. In the meantime you are remanded in custody.”

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