Migrant worker murder: one year on

Detectives investigating the murder of a migrant worker a year ago on Saturday have so far spent £100,000 on official interpreters and translations, it has been revealed.

The high cost of taking statements and translating appeal leaflets into different languages has been revealed by Cambridgeshire Police as the BBC's Crimewatch programme prepares a reconstruction of the crime in the run up to its year anniversary.

It also comes as 29 multi-lingual civilian officers are due to be sworn into the police force on Thursday.

The body of married father of three Dainus Kigas, 35, was found in a burning blue Renault traffic van car in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Kigas, who came from Lithuania, is thought to have been asleep in the van in Turnpike Court, off Norwich Road, when it was set ablaze.

He had been operating a courier business.

Although four men remain on police bail in connection with the investigation into the murder, no one has yet been charged.

Hundreds of flyers in seven different languages, including Lithuanian and Russian, have been handed out by officers in Wisbech, King's Lynn, Ely and Peterborough in the effort to find out who killed Mr Kigas.

And translation costs across the county, which are now threatening to reach a £1 million a year, are unlikely to fall in the short term, the police said.

As many as 90 different languages have been recorded in the county since migrant workers from Eastern Europe began flooding in.

"Whether you are a victim, witness or suspect, it's not an option to simply say we can't deal with you because your first language isn't English," said a police spokesman.

The force hopes the appointment of 29 multi lingual support officers will be help reduce costs and improve work with the migrant community.

They have been recruited to work on a call-out basis.

"The support officers will work for the constabulary on a casual workers contract, which means that they will be paid only for actual services provided," the spokesman said.

The support officers live locally and between them speak English and one of 14 other languages: Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Latvian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Urdu, Punjabi and British Sign language.

The spokesman added: "They will be used for telephone interpreting and face to face interpreting for non-evidential purposes. Their use is anticipated to cut the amount of money spent by the constabulary on interpretation and translation services by about 20 per cent."

n There is still a £5,000 reward for information about the murder of Mr Kigas. Anyone with any information should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or the Operation Horsford inquiry team on 0845 456 4564.