Seven men have been convicted of the kidnap and murder of Christopher Hughes, a 37-year-old from Wigan who was wrongly suspected of raping a teenage girl. The gang abducted Hughes from a street in Wigan on 18 February, bundled him into the boot of an Audi, and drove him to Skelmersdale, where he was stabbed over 90 times.
At Liverpool Crown Court, the jury found the men guilty after hearing how Hughes had been hunted by the group, who mistakenly believed he had committed a knifepoint rape behind a post office. He was spotted in Almond Grove, Wigan, and abducted by Curtis Balbas and Erland Spahiu. The former boxer was then driven to White Moss Road South, Skelmersdale, and killed.
On the evening of the murder, Dean O'Neill Davey, Andrius Uzkuraitis, Erland Spahiu, and his cousin Erion Voja attempted to hide the body, according to prosecutor John Elvidge, KC. They tried to bury Hughes on waste land but were disturbed by police investigating a nearby road traffic accident. The body was abandoned and discovered by a dog walker four days later at the foot of an embankment on White Moss Road South.
Curtis Balbas, 30, of Matheson Drive, Worsley Hall, initially admitted kidnap and later changed his plea to guilty of murder. The seven convicted men are: Dean O'Neill Davey (30, of Conrad Close, formerly of Bulteel Street, Wigan); Erland Spahiu (no age given, address unknown); Erion Voja (visiting from London); Curtis Balbas; and others. Andrius Uzkuraitis (27, of Holly Road, Worsley Hall) was cleared of murder and kidnapping but convicted of assisting an offender. Michael Gibbons (47, of Bulteel Street, Wigan) faced two charges of perverting the course of justice; he was acquitted of one, with the jury still considering the second. All were remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.
