A murder charge against a 30-year-old who fled the country after a serious assault on a man in Ipswich who later died has been dropped after it was found the victim died from natural causes.

Edgars Slavinskis was arrested at Stansted Airport in April this year - four years after the attack on 40-year-old Raimonds Gromolds at his home in Harland Street, Ipswich, on June 9, 2019.

Mr Gromolds suffered extensive head and facial injuries and damage to his spleen in the attack and died in 2021.

Kate Wilkinson, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, said it had been decided to discontinue the murder charge after a thorough review of the case.

She said post-mortem examinations had found the cause of Mr Gromolds' death was pulmonary tuberculosis and this was not linked to the injuries he suffered in the 2019 attack.

Slavinskis, of Eclipse Court, Ipswich, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday to causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Gromolds on June 9, 2019 with intent.

He also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice by sending a message to Mr Gromolds on the day of the attack asking him not to make a statement to the police about the assault.

Judge Martyn Levett adjourned sentence until July 26 to allow the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report on Slavinskis, which will consider the issue of dangerousness.

Stephen Rose, for Slavinskis, said his client admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Gromolds on the basis that he had punched him and hadn’t kicked him.

He said Slavinskis, who is in custody, has no previous convictions.

Mr Rose said his client had gone home to Latvia following the attack but had returned to the UK voluntarily in April to “face the music”.