Eight men have been jailed for a minimum of 229 years after they kidnapped and murdered an innocent dad who they wrongly believed had raped a teenager. Erland Spahiu, 34, Curtis Balbas, 31, Martin Smith, 34, Razgar Khader Mohammed, 41, Alan Jaf, 52, Khalil Awla, 49, Dean Smeaton O’Neill-Davey, 30, Erion Voja, 21, were part of a gang that brutally slayed Christopher Hughes, 37.
He suffered more than 90 sharp force injuries to his head, neck, body and limbs, with the most inflicted while he was alive, following his abduction on February 18 last year. Liverpool Crown Court heard his attackers, without justification, had launched the vicious attack on Christopher in retribution for a sexual crime he did not commit.
And his body remained undetected for four days as police conducted a wide-ranging search for him as a high-risk missing. It was only discovered on February 22 by a member of the public with their dog on White Moss Road South in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.
