Father and son given life for headless traveller murder

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Norman Jones, 50, of Dukes Head Yard, Highgate, north London, and Joseph Jones, 24, of Crescent Road, New Barnet, north London, were convicted yesterday of the murder of scrap metal dealer John Finney.

During a nine-week trial, St Albans Crown Court heard that the pair abducted and then dismembered the father-of-four as revenge after they thought he had stolen their "gear" - believed to be drugs.

Mr Finney's naked headless and handless corpse was found dumped behind a garage block in Ickleford, Hertfordshire, on March 14 last year, two weeks after he disappeared.

His head and hands have never been found.

Yesterday, after 33 hours of deliberation, the jury of six men and six women unanimously convicted the father and son of his murder.

Today, Norman Jones was told he will serve a minimum of 33 years for the killing, and his son must serve a minimum of 30 years.

Both men remained motionless as sentence was passed.

Sentencing the men today, Mr Justice Macduff told the pair: "You have both been convicted of murder upon overwhelming evidence.

"You are both evil men with nothing to commend you.

"You committed, both of you, a meticulously planned murder.

"You decided summarily to execute a man who you thought, rightly or wrongly - probably wrongly - had crossed you."

He said both men had "lied in a breathtaking way" to the court to save their own skins.

The judge said: "It is difficult to comprehend how evil you are. I can find nothing at all to commend either of you, you lack any semblance of humanity."

The court's public gallery remained quiet today, in contrast to uproar after yesterday's verdicts were announced.