Christopher Guest More Jnr GUILTY of murdering Brian Waters

Christopher Guest More Jnr, from Lymm, was today convicted of the murder of Brian Waters by a jury at Chester Crown Court following a month-long retrial.

He shook his head as the verdict was delivered, jurors having deliberated for 12 hours and 14 minutes before reaching a majority of 10 to two.

Justice Peter Openshaw - who had given a direction for a majority around half an hour before the verdict was given - will pass sentence tomorrow, Friday.

READ MORE: Luxury yachts and Moroccan royalty – Murderer’s extraordinary 15 years on the run

The 44-year-old victim was killed in a disused cowshed at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near to junction 19 of the M6 for Knutsford, on June 19 2003.

Mr Waters – who was operating the site as a cannabis farm – was hung upside down by his ankles, beaten with weapons and burned with melting plastic in front of his own children over a £20,000 drug debt before succumbing to his more than 100 separate injuries.

More remained at large for nearly two decades before his capture two years ago, having been added to Europe’s most wanted list.

He was also found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to a second worker at the drugs farm by jurors.

The defendant, who was aged 25 at the time of the incident, was part of a gang who travelled to the site in the early hours and ransacked the grow before torturing Suleman Razak – who assisted in the operation of the cannabis farm – when he arrived at the scene at around midday.

More pictured around the time of the murder

Mr Razak was punched and kicked in the face numerous times and knocked unconscious before being hung upside down by his ankles and lowered into a barrel which was filled up with water.

After being electrocuted, he was burned with acid, had a pillowcase placed over his head and set on fire and was attacked with a staple gun.

It was then that Mr Waters arrived at the scene and was similarly set upon.

He too was lowered into the barrel of water and beaten with bamboo canes with such ferocity that they snapped, as well as being struck with a metal bar.

A bin bag was also suspended above his head and set alight, causing melting plastic to drip down onto his head.

READ MORE: ‘You see this sort of thing in the movies’ – Three key figures in More’s capture

His son Gavin and daughter Natalie, who had celebrated her 21st birthday the previous day, then attended and were attacked – with the latter having the barrel of a gun placed in her mouth.

At the same time, the Waters’ family home in Nantwich was raided by two men who then transported the victim’s wife Julie to the farm.

But the assailants fled when the police arrived simultaneously, with officers discovering Brian Waters’ lifeless body in a milking parlour.

READ MORE: ‘There are three men beating somebody up’ – Listen to 999 call alerting police to torture murder

A Home Office post-mortem investigation recorded a cause of death of multiple injuries – including fractured ribs, a broken nose and breastbone, a bleed on the brain and bruising to the heart.

Evidence of strangulation was also found, while he had suffered burns to his back from a ‘caustic substance’ and had been attacked using the staple gun across his head and body.

Several items discovered at the scene – including a bottle of Sprite, cigarette ends, a glove and human waste – revealed forensic links to More.

He returned his then home at Burford Lane Farm alongside co-conspirator Otis Matthews in the evening after the killing and flew to Malaga from Liverpool John Lennon Airport two days later.

The 43-year-old was wanted for more than 15 years before being detained in an apartment in Malta on a European arrest warrant in 2019, claiming to be called Andrew Christopher Lamb and possessing false documentation including a British passport in this name.

READ MORE: ‘We never gave up hope’ – Family statement as dad’s killer convicted 18 years on

In early 2020, the former undercover TV researcher was extradited back to the UK and pleaded not guilty to murder as well as conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Razak.

A jury in a previous trial held at the same court earlier this year then failed to reach a verdict.

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More admitted having been present while associates of gangster John Wilson stole the cannabis and cultivating equipment in the hours leading up to the killing but claimed to have left the farm before the violence unfolded.

He also denied any prior knowledge of a plot to attack either Mr Waters or Mr Razak.

Three other conspirators – Wilson, and Matthews and More’s cousin James Raven – were previously convicted of Mr Waters’ murder following trials in 2004 and 2007 and were jailed for life.