Ukrainian student questioned over mosque bombings charged with murder of pensioner

A Ukrainian student questioned over a series of bomb blasts near mosques in the West Midlands was charged on Monday night with the murder of a pensioner who was stabbed as he walked home from prayers.

Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, a postgraduate student from the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, was arrested last Thursday and questioned over three blasts and the murder of Mohammed Saleem, 75, who was attacked in April in Small Heath, Birmingham.

A second Ukrainian, a 22-year-old engineering student, was released after questioning and is being treated as a witness.

Mr Lapshyn is due to appear in court today in London.