Lancashire Police charge four Nelson men with murder of Andrej Minin

By Matthew Calderbank
Published 9th Nov 2023, 10:35 BST
Updated 9th Nov 2023, 10:36 BST
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Lancashire Police have charged four men with murder following the death of a man in Nelson.

Police were called to a home in Nelson at around 5.20am on Sunday, November 5 after ambulance crews found a man dead inside the property.

He has been named as 53-year-old Andrej Minin and a Home Office post-mortem examination found that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

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A murder investigation was launched and three people were arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday, followed by the arrest of a fourth man on Tuesday. All four men were known to the victim.

Lancashire Police were called to a home in Nelson at around 5.20am on Sunday, November 5 after ambulance crews found a man dead inside the property. He has been named as 53-year-old Andrej Minin and a Home Office post-mortem examination found that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.Lancashire Police were called to a home in Nelson at around 5.20am on Sunday, November 5 after ambulance crews found a man dead inside the property. He has been named as 53-year-old Andrej Minin and a Home Office post-mortem examination found that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
Lancashire Police were called to a home in Nelson at around 5.20am on Sunday, November 5 after ambulance crews found a man dead inside the property. He has been named as 53-year-old Andrej Minin and a Home Office post-mortem examination found that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

The four men have today been charged with murder (Thursday, November 9). They are:

- Waldemar Bernacki, 51, of Fir Street Nelson

- Laimonas Prascevicius, 53, of Fir Street, Nelson

- Vasile Olaru, 56, of Fir Street, Nelson

- Rimantas Vystartas, 54, of Fir Street, Nelson

They have been remanded into custody to appear at Burnley Magistrates Court today (November 9).

DCI Mark Haworth-Oates, of Lancashire Police's Force Major Investigation Team, said: “Andrej lost his life after being the victim of a serious and sustained assault and my thoughts are with his loved ones.

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“The people charged with his murder were well known to Andrej and I know that the offence has had an impact upon the local community, some of whom knew all of the men involved.

“Although we have charged four men, our investigation is at an early stage and I would appeal to anyone with information about the people involved to come forward as it may assist our understanding of what led to this tragic outcome.”

Anyone with information is asked to email [email protected] or call 101 quoting log 0259 of 5th November 2023.