A LITHUANIAN man whose death sparked a murder probe after his body was found in a Co Tyrone garage had previously been jailed for manslaughter.
Gediminas Stauskas was sentenced in 2012 after stabbing a fellow Lithuanian national to death in a car park "duel" in Dungannon town centre.
Detectives have launched a murder inquiry after the 32-year-old's body was discovered last Thursday in a garage near Coalisland on the Moor Road, close to the M1.
Police are investigating a possible link with a shooting reported a day earlier, when an eastern European man living in the nearby Clonabay area of Coalisland was shot in the leg.
The violence has increased fears of a feud involving foreign nationals following paramilitary-style attacks on two eastern European men in Newry last month.
Stauskas received a five-and-a-half year sentence after he admitted killing fellow Lithuanian Audrius Aukstuolis in January 2011.
It emerged Mr Aukstuolis (29) died during an arranged fight in broad daylight at Ann Street after the pair exchanged threats over his pursuit of Stauskas's girlfriend.
Mr Aukstuolis, who was a bodybuilder, had been due to face a rape charge.
The judge at the time described it as a "slightly bizarre and old-fashioned duel" in which Stauskas was armed with a knife and Mr Aukstuolis a screwdriver.
A prosecution lawyer said: "Only one blow was struck, by Stauskas with the knife – the stabbing blow of the knife which pierced Aukstuolis's heart, and killed him."
Stauskas had served half his sentence in Maghaberry and was released on licence in October 2013.
Shortly before the killing a then PSNI officer used police computers to illegally access information about Mr Aukstolis, which he passed onto a "female friend".
Andrew Donaldson was later convicted of unlawfully obtaining personal data from PSNI computers and misconduct in public office.
The former constable, of Baronscourt Avenue, Carryduff in Co Down, was given a nine-month sentence suspended for a year.
The large shed where Stauskas was found dead last week is believed to be owned by well-known businessman Pat McDonagh, although it is understood it was leased out to another business.
Mr McDonagh was in the headlines in 2005 after the Continuity IRA tried to extort £50,000 from him.
One of two men later charged in connection with the extortion attempt was former CIRA boss Tommy Crossan, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen in west Belfast last year.
Three men arrested in the Clonabay area of Coalisland in connection with the shootings in Newry were later released.
A Lithuanian man, Ramunas Macnoris, who was arrested in Dungannon, was charged with two counts of attempted murder.
The PSNI yesterday confirmed Stauskas was a Lithuanian national and said he had "connections to the Dungannon area".
Detective Chief Inspector Lee McNevison, who is leading the murder investigation, appealed for anyone with information to contact them.
"If anyone saw anything unusual in the Moor Road area of Coalisland in recent days we would like them to contact detectives at Dungannon police station," he said.
Anyone with information can call non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
