Aleksanders Dolars

Introduction

Aleksanders Dolars, a 23-year-old Latvian national, was jailed for nine years and four months for killing 12-year-old Keaton Slater in Coventry — a collision he fled at speed, leaving the schoolboy to die on the road while he drove away and later left the country . Dolars struck Keaton at 75-76mph in a 30mph zone on Radford Road on 14 June 2024 as the boy walked home from school with friends, then abandoned his car and escaped to his native Latvia within days . It took a two-year campaign by Keaton’s parents, backed by their MP, to bring him back to a British court .

Background Information

Keaton Slater was a devoted Coventry City fan who had just got off a bus and stepped out onto Radford Road to cross when Dolars’ BMW approached; the court heard Keaton would not have seen the car, and attempted to run out of its way without success . The force of the collision threw the boy into parked vehicles, likely killing him instantly, yet Dolars did not stop or even slow down . He abandoned the car around twenty minutes later, more than six miles away, and casually walked off before fleeing to Latvia . Because there was no extradition treaty between Latvia and the UK after Brexit, Dolars evaded capture for more than two years while Keaton’s parents pressed the case .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced: nine years and four months for causing the death of a 12-year-old by dangerous driving, after a two-year flight from justice.

Days after the collision, Keaton’s mother Louise Slater sat outside the suspect’s home in Latvia, having been given his name and address, and began the fight to bring him back . The family, supported by Coventry North West MP Taiwo Owatemi and a meeting with the Latvian ambassador, tracked Dolars until he was arrested and detained in Latvia in July 2026 and extradited a month later . Dolars was flown into Gatwick Airport in August and taken to custody in the West Midlands, where he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Warwick Crown Court . It had been thought he could not be compelled to attend his own sentencing, but the judge ordered him to appear in person after representations to the justice minister on the family’s behalf .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Sentencing Dolars on 13 November 2026, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC told him: “Your selfish and dangerous driving took his life,” adding that he “must have known” he had struck a pedestrian and “must have realised he would have been gravely injured” . The judge rejected any suggestion of a “momentary lapse of attention,” noting Dolars had been seen cutting in front of cars using the wrong lane at traffic lights immediately beforehand . Keaton’s family said the sentence — of which Dolars will serve two-thirds in custody — was not long enough; his mother told reporters, “My baby only had 12 years on this planet” . Louise Slater had told the court: “I cannot understand how anyone could leave a child who had just been struck and not stop to help him” . MP Taiwo Owatemi called it the most heartbreaking day she had experienced as a parliamentarian, said she was “incredibly angry” at the sentence, and pledged to support the family in seeking a review by the Court of Appeal . Dolars was also disqualified from driving for 16 years and one month .

Current Status

Dolars is serving his nine-year-and-four-month sentence, with release expected after two-thirds of the term — around six years — followed by the long driving disqualification . Detective Chief Inspector Sam Lewis, who led the investigation, said bringing him back had been “extremely complex” given the cross-border work with the Crown Prosecution Service and Latvian authorities, but that the force “kept fighting for Keaton” until he faced a UK court . The family’s attempt to have the sentence referred to the Court of Appeal remained outstanding as of the sentencing coverage .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Dolars, who was 21 at the time of the collision, will return to Latvia in his late twenties as a convicted dangerous driver barred from British roads until his forties . For the Slater family, the outcome closed a two-year pursuit they described as having changed their lives forever; Keaton’s mother read out a letter the boy had written on his first day of secondary school about his dream of playing football and passing his GCSEs, and his brothers told the court of a space in the family that could never be filled . The case has been widely covered as an example of post-Brexit extradition gaps — and of what a determined family campaign can do to close them .

Sources

• “Driver who fled to Latvia after killing Keaton Slater jailed” — BBC News, November 2026: source
• “Keaton Slater’s parents’ fight to bring Latvian killer to UK” — BBC News, November 2026: source
• “Dangerous driver who caused death of Coventry schoolboy Keaton Slater is jailed” — Coventry Observer, November 2026: source
• “Hit-and-run driver who fled to Latvia after killing schoolboy in 75mph Coventry collision jailed” — The Independent, November 2026: source