Man who buried girlfriend alive gets 20 years

A MAN who attempted to murder his girlfriend by burying her alive in a cardboard box has been jailed for 20 years in Britain.

Marcin Kasprzak, aged 26, attacked Michelina Lewandowska with a Taser, bound and gagged her and buried her under soil, leaves and an 88lb tree branch in woodland near their home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

Lewandowska, 27, escaped from the box after around an hour, by using her engagement ring to cut herself free.

Kasprzak was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of attempted murder.

His friend, Patryk Borys, aged 18, of Rashcliffe Hill Road, Huddersfield, who helped in the kidnap, was cleared of attempted murder. Both men admitted kidnap at a previous hearing. Kasprzak also admitted possessing a prohibited weapon.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, said this was a “planned attempt to kill”. He added: “The death you intended would have been long and slow. It is mind-numbingly awful to imagine the sort of death you intended her to die.”

Borys was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in a young offenders institute.

Judge Collier said that Kasprzak “became un-happy” with Lewandowska and wanted their three-year-old son, who he thought was not being treated properly by his mother. He said: “The problem you faced was that she would not go willingly and leave your child with you and your mother. So it was that you formed a plan to get rid of her.”

The judge heard how the pair kept Lewandowska tied up in the house for around six hours before they put her into the cardboard box, taped it up and drove to a “deserted wooded area”, where Kasprzak buried her.

Neither showed any emotion as they were sentenced.