A man is behind bars after "mercilessly beating" to death a young father who came to the UK from Poland in search of a better life for his family.
Vitalie Daikov, 26, of no fixed address was jailed for 17 years at the Old Bailey on Monday (May 14) for taking another man's life in a fit of "uncontrolled rage".
He left 31-year-old Kamil Metler unconscious in a Hounslow alleyway after repeatedly kicking and stamping on his head following an evening at Yates pub in Bath Road last October.
Emergency services were called to Montague Road in Hounslow just before 3am on October 8 2017 and found Kamil lying unconscious in an alleyway.
He had suffered serious head injuries and died at the scene a short time later.
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In a heart-wrenching statement , Kamil’s mother said: "I have not reconciled myself and I dare say I never will reconcile myself to the fact that my son is dead.
"I even feel a sort of emptiness, a void between his life and the grave. I did not see him dead and all of that has not got through to my consciousness.
"I try not to think about that, but the image of my son keeps coming back on sleepless nights and I feel a huge pain when I think how much he must have suffered when he was lying, having been beaten mercilessly by Daikov.
"Daikov left him dying slowly while he quietly strolled about the streets of London, he did not help him, he did not call the emergency services, he took no interest in what was happening to him."
Witnesses told officers that they had seen Kamil being kicked and stamped on the head as he was on the ground. A post-mortem examination held at Uxbridge Mortuary gave cause of death as head injuries.
Detectives established that a few hours before his death, Kamil had been in the Yates pub in Bath Road. He left the pub and was seen on the street outside talking with a woman before they, and a man, moved along Lampton Road to the alleyway.
The woman was seen to run out of the alleyway back into Lampton Road shortly after and the man - later identified as Daikov - walked out of the alleyway in the opposite direction, into Montague Road and then in the direction of the High Street.
It was in this alleyway that Kamil received his injuries from Daikov - who argued that he feared he had been set up and was about to be robbed.
When officers located Daikov, they discovered that he had not met Kamil before that night.
Daikov was told he must serve a minimum of two thirds of the sentence imposed, previously pleading guilty to manslaughter on March 1 at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Detective Inspector Will Reynolds, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "Daikov’s uncontrolled rage has taken the life of a man who had come to Britain in search of a better life and to enable him to support his young son.
"I sincerely hope that the sentence handed down today brings a measure of comfort to Kamil's family."
Dailkov was charged with murder on October 16 2017, but was found not guilty. The woman was not arrested.
