Fury as duo on the run from Polish police and now charged with murder were allowed into UK

Two Polish criminals facing trial in their home country for a murder committed in Britain were on the run for other violent offences at the time.

Tomasz Weiss, 36, and Adrian Pietraszewski, 28, are set to appear at Gliwice Regional Court in Poland more than four years after the brutal killing of fellow Pole Andrezj Mucha in Slough, Berkshire, in November 2021.

It is only the second known trial to take place overseas for a murder committed in Britain.

Mucha, 57, was allegedly beaten by both men in his flat before Weiss strangled him to death. His body was then stuffed in a suitcase and buried in nearby woodland.

Thames Valley Police last month (FEB) said human remains found by officers in woodland in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire - about three miles from the murder scene - had been formally identified as the victim.

At the time of Mucha's killing, both men were wanted by Polish police for other violent crimes and later committed further offences in Britain.

Their cases are shocking indictments of the lax criminal history checks at our borders.

Legal documents showed that in July 2021, four months before Mucha's murder, a judge at Westminster Magistrate Court had ordered the extradition of Pietraszewski to serve an outstanding sentence for a string of crimes, including assaulting two police officers and criminal damage.

He was released on bail and broke his electronic tag to go on the run after his appeal against removal was dismissed the following April.

The father-of-one had arrived in Britain in 2018 after he failed to keep in touch with his probation officer, triggering a suspended sentence of one year, nine months and 28 days for his previous crimes in Poland.

Weiss had been on Poland's most wanted list for more than two years for another murder, as well as other offences, including assault, at the time of the killing.

He was prosecuted in the UK in February 2022, three months after Mucha's death, for violent entry and criminal damage, but was cautioned and escaped jail or extradition proceedings at the time.

Last November a High Court judge approved their trial taking place in Poland instead of the UK, to allow witness statements given to Polish police to be used.

Weiss was extradited in February on a military flight from London's Biggin Hill airfield, while Pietraszewski was sent home the previous month.

Both men have since been formally charged in Poland and are in custody awaiting trial.

Weiss faces a potential life sentence for murder if convicted, while Pietraszewski faces up to eight years' imprisonment for charges of beating and "obstruction of proceedings in connection with hiding the victim's body and covering up traces of the crime".

Weiss was originally arrested by Thames Valley Police over Mucha's killing in July 2022, a month after the victim's daughter Paulina Mikolajczyk issued a public appeal for information about her dad's fate. Pietraszewski was arrested the following January.

The CPS decided it did not have enough evidence to prosecute them for murder and instead charged them with perverting the course of justice and preventing Mucha's lawful burial. These charges have been dropped to allow the trial to take place in Poland.

In January 2023, Pietraszewski's girlfriend Kamila Wojcik and flatmate Adrian Nikiel returned to Poland and told police they witnessed Weiss and Pietraszewski attacking Mucha in the Slough flat and that his body had been buried in a forest.

Prosecutors claim the two suspects recruited another Polish national to unwittingly drive them in his van to nearby woodland to dispose of Mucha's body three days after his death.

They are also said to have hatched a plan with Wojcik and Nikel to cover their tracks when questioned by the UK police about Mucha's disappearance.

Polish detectives uncovered WhatsApp messages from Pietraszewski on girlfriend Wojcik's mobile phone with alleged instructions on how she was to testify when summoned by the police. He also advised Nikel on how to "testify and obstruct proceedings while he was in the UK."

A warrant was issued by Polish police and Weiss and Pietraszewski were arrested for extradition in May 2023.

Two months later, after the CPS met with Polish prosecutors to discuss the case, the CPS dropped its charges against the pair after deciding the evidence provided by Wojcik and Nikel would be "inadmissible" in UK courts.

Detective Superintendent Kevin Brown, head of Thames Valley Police's Major Crime Unit, said: "With Polish law enforcement support, who gathered new and compelling evidence linking Adrian Pietraszewski and Tomasz Grzegorz Weiss to Andrzej's murder, we have worked tirelessly with the Crown Prosecution Service and Polish authorities to secure a landmark decision to discontinue legal proceedings in the UK and extradite the defendants to Poland to stand trial there."