Driver who killed Keaton Slater jailed after extradition from Latvia

Aleksanders Dolars was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison at Warwick Crown Court on Friday. He had pleaded guilty in September to causing death by dangerous driving.

Keaton Slater was walking home from school when Dolars struck him with a speeding BMW on Radford Road in Coventry on 14 June 2024. Dolars drove away, abandoned the car and fled to Latvia shortly afterwards.

Keaton’s parents, Louise and Clint Slater, launched a petition calling for government help to bring Dolars back. They also met Latvia’s ambassador to the UK in London in April 2025, the BBC reported.

The UK and EU have had an extradition arrangement since 2021, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the agreement in force when Dolars fled did not allow Latvian nationals to be returned from Latvia to the UK. The CPS said Latvian law was later changed and a court in Latvia authorised his extradition. He was returned to the UK in August 2026.

CPS prosecutor Tamina Greaves told the BBC she believed the case would not have reached this point without the parents’ campaigning. She added that she could not speak for the Latvian government.

At sentencing, Dolars apologised to Keaton’s family through his barrister, according to court reporting by The Independent.

Louise Slater told ITV News that the sentence would not bring closure. “We’re always going to mourn our baby not being here,” she said, but added that she no longer had to worry about Dolars being free.