MP Khalid Mahmood asks why Lithuanian man accused of killing Avtar and Carole Kolar was allowed into UK

The man accused of killing Avtar and Carole Kolar had entered the UK without a passport, an MP has claimed, and other reports suggested he was a violent criminal who was wanted by the authorities in Lithuania.

The Birmingham Perry Barr MP, Khalid Mahmood, is writing to the home secretary calling for an inquiry.

An inquest is to be opened and adjourned into the death of Lithuanian Rimvydas Liorancas, who was found hanged in his cell in Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes on Saturday.

The Kolars' bodies were found at their home in Handsworth Wood on 11 January by their son, Jason, a serving officer with West Midlands police.

Mahmood said: "I am very concerned people are coming across our borders without proper checks. I'm making inquiries today with the Home Office on what basis he was allowed into the country ? and with UK Border Agency ? to see what they have to say about it.

"I'm very concerned and I've written to Theresa May and asked her to inform me of what status ? if he had no passport how was he allowed in. I'm extremely concerned that these people are allowed to come from Europe without any checks taking place. And this has led to the demise of two of my constituents who would still have been alive if this hadn't happened."

He said several people had raised concerns about Liorancas's immigration status ata public meeting two weeks ago. "The fact he's taken his own life in prison, I'd assume he would be on some kind of watch. The community will not know what the circumstances of the deaths of these two law-abiding people."

Mahmood said he could not understand how Liorancas was allowed to carry out building work if he was in Britain illegally.

West Midlands police said it would not be making any comment about Liorancas not having a passport. A Home Office spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Liorancas, of Winson Green, appeared at Birmingham crown court in January charged with murder but did not enter a plea.

Postmortem examinations following the Kolars' deaths revealed they died as a result of blunt-force trauma to the head, each sustaining a number of blows.

According to reports, Liorancas had been carrying out casual building work with a group of other Lithuanians before his arrest. He had once worked at the Kolars' home, helping install a patio for their conservatory.

Liorancas was wanted by the authorities in Lithuania for unpaid child maintenance. He had also been convicted of an armed robbery in the Czech Republic in 2003, according to reports, and was wanted for drink-driving.

A spokesman for the Lithuanian embassy in London declined to comment on the case.

Liorancas was extradited back to Lithuania in 2009. He was sentenced to a further jail term for absconding and breaking the terms of his release.

Last year, he was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and drink-driving while disqualified. But he was soon back in the UK and it is unclear how he managed to enter the country without a passport.

Neighbours told the Birmingham Mail that Liorancas was a petty thief who stole clothes from recycling banks and sometimes carried a rolling pin up his sleeve. They said he was a loner who would beg for food.

Stephen Cotterill, 48, said Liorancas looked like a man with "something on his mind".

"He came around a few weeks ago, he was hungry," he said. "I gave him a bag of food and some Pot Noodles and some cigarettes. There was just something odd about the guy. One time he came around for food and had a rolling pin up his sleeve. Why would he have a rolling pin up his sleeve?"

Liorancas, a father of two, came from the village of Vadzgirys, about 150 miles from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. His ex-wife, Ingrida, said he had never had a job and had been involved in crime since he left school.

"He came from a good family, but he did nothing," she told the Daily Mail. "He was a thief, a burglar, a robber ? He would steal anything ? wood, petrol, property from people's homes."