Hitmen convicted of schoolboy's murder
2013-02-01 22:02
London - Two bungling British hitmen, who went to the
wrong address and stabbed a teenager to death instead of their intended victim,
were convicted of murder on Friday.
Prosecutors said Ben Hope, 39, and Jason Richards, 38,
were paid £1
000 each to kill a man who owed money to an underworld businessman.
But the pair, both heroin addicts, killed 17-year-old
Aamir Siddiqi on his doorstep instead.
Hope and Richards also attacked the teen's parents as
they tried to save their son, who had wanted to be a lawyer.
A jury at Swansea Crown Court unanimously found the pair
guilty of Siddiqi's 2010 murder in Cardiff, Wales.
The two also were convicted of the attempted murder of
Siddiqi's parents.
Prosecutors said the killers, former prison cellmates,
had acted with "staggering incompetence".
After carrying out the attack at a house on the wrong
street, Hope drove away from the crime in a stolen car.
It was found abandoned, covered in his fingerprints and
the victim's blood.
Richards denied being at the scene of the murder, but the
jury did not believe him.
The murdered teen's sister, Umbareen Siddiqi, said Aamir
had been "the heartbeat of our family”.
"On the 11th of April 2010, a house which was
previously filled with love and laughter was brutally destroyed by the callous,
vicious attack on our parents and our brother," she said outside court.
"Within seconds our lives changed forever.
"Aamir was a beautiful person with a bright future.
If he was still with us he would be looking forward to turning 21 this year and
completing his law degree."
Judge John Royce said a life term in prison was
inevitable when the two men are sentenced 8 February.
- AP
