FLASH
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In their efforts to cover their tracks, the gang destroyed CCTV, switched phones, deleted messages and destroyed the car used in the kidnapping...
CHANNEL 4's new series "Manhunt" focuses on the macabre murder of a 37-year-old man, who was massacred with knives, while two Albanians were also members of the gang.
In the footage, Christopher Hughes is seen forcing himself into a car, then disappearing without a trace.
But what happened to him, why and how was he executed, and then how was his body discovered?
Christopher Hughes, 37, was found dead on February 22, 2022, near a road in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.
He was wrongly accused of raping and threatening a teenage girl with a knife. He was brutally stabbed more than 90 times after being abducted from the street and forced into the trunk of a car.
Manchester police found that Christopher was not the perpetrator of the rape, and this was proven by DNA evidence. But after this act the gang "took the law into their own hands".
According to police, the group, who "all knew each other or were connected," began searching for him on February 17, 2022.
They even broke into Christopher's house before kidnapping him in broad daylight the next day.
Christopher was seen in Wigan's Almond Grove on February 18, 2022, where Curtis Balbas and Erland Spahiu forced him into the trunk of a car.
He was then taken to White Moss Road South in Skelmersdale, where he was "brutally raped and killed as an act of punishment".
Prosecutor John Elvidge KC said that on the evening of the murder, Dean O'Neill Davey, Andrius Uzkuraitis, Spahiu and his cousin, Erion Voja, attempted to hide Christopher's body.
They tried to bury him, but the whole plan was interrupted by the police, who happened to be there after investigating a nearby traffic accident.
In their efforts to cover up the crime, the gang destroyed CCTV, switched phones, deleted messages and destroyed the car used in the kidnapping.
Unable to complete the burial, they abandoned his body, which was discovered 4 days later at the foot of an embankment by a person walking his dog.
What happened to Christopher Hughes' killers?
In February 2023, eight gang members received sentences of up to life depending on their roles in the kidnapping and brutal murder of Christopher.
During sentencing, Justice Wall described the crime as "brutal and partly sadistic", highlighting the victim's suffering from at least 90 stab and cut wounds.
Addressing the defendants, he said “it was a murder that was designed to obstruct or interfere with the course of justice. Therefore, the starting point of the sentence is 30 years. The judge made it clear that he believed that Curtis Balbas, Erland Spahiu and Martin Smith had determined that Christopher should die. What they did was nothing short of cruel.”
Balbas, 30, an Iraqi Kurd from Matheson Drive, Worsley Hall, was sentenced to at least 34 years. He pleaded guilty to both kidnapping and murder, while the others were sentenced after a trial. Albanian Spahiu was sentenced to 35 years, while 34-year-old Smith from Greenwood Avenue was sentenced to 33 years. The remaining five defendants were convicted on the grounds of intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Alan Jaf, 52, of Ridyard Street, and Khalil Awla, 48, of Greenwood Avenue, were both handed a minimum sentence of 26 years.
They owned and operated M6 Motors in Wigan, where the Audi used in the crime was taken and destroyed.
Both men were married to Balba's sisters.
Razgar Mohammed, 40, of Plane Avenue, received 27 years in prison.
O'Neill-Davey, 30, of Conrad Close, was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison, while 21-year-old Erion Voja, of Peall Road, Croydon, was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years.
Another defendant, 27-year-old Lithuanian Andrius Uzkuraitis, of Holly Road, Worsley Hall, was acquitted of murder and kidnapping charges. He was sentenced to six years. / Adapted from The Sun Pamphlet /
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