'Letter from the grave' convicts UK murderers

A drug dealer and his henchman were found guilty of murdering Indian-born millionaire businessman Amarjit Chohan and his family on Friday in one of the longest murder trials in English legal history. Kenneth Regan, 55, and William Horncy, 52, were found guilty of the murders of Chohan and three generations of his family in an Old Bailey murder trial which cost up to 10 million pounds ($18 million) and stretched across four countries.
A third man, 39-year-old Peter Rees was found guilty of murdering Chohan but cleared of four other murders. He was also convicted of assisting an offender.
Chohan, who ran a haulage company importing food into Britain from Africa, vanished in February 2003 with his wife, two young sons and mother-in-law, sparking an intense police hunt.
Chohan's body was found in the sea two months later floating near a pier at Bournemouth on the south coast of England. His wife's body and her mother were found later, but the bodies of the two baby boys are still missing.
"This is a crime utterly beyond the comprehension of decent society," said Detective Chief Inspector Dave Little, who led the investigation.
"A young family, a new family, was entirely wiped out at the hands of these murderous men in an attempt to line their own pockets.
The jury heard how Chohan had left a note telling police he expected to be killed by Regan. The note was hidden in Chohan's sock and was still legible when his body was found in the water.
Police described it as a vital clue and a "letter from the grave".
Regan, a convicted drug dealer and police informant, had killed Chohan to take over his company as a front for importing drugs. The Indian-born businessman had been forced to sign his company over to Regan shortly before he was murdered.
Regan then told police Chohan had given up his business and gone abroad voluntarily.
The trial also heard how Regan had wanted the money to impress a woman, Belinda Brewin, who was a close friend of the late television presenter and ex-wife of Irish rocker Bob Geldof, Paula Yates. Brewin was in court on Monday and smiled as the verdicts were read out.
The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for a total of 61 hours over 13 days before reaching their unanimous verdicts.
Detectives put the cost of the eight-month case at 10 million pounds and said the two-year police investigation had involved over 1,000 officers and stretched from Britain to Belgium, the United States and India.
The men will be sentenced on Tuesday.