It was an act of bloodthirsty revenge. Christopher Hughes was stabbed 90 times after he was snatched off a street and bundled into the boot of an Audi.
But the gang of vigilantes who kidnapped him had made a colossal mistake.
His killers had wrongly believed he had raped a teenage girl at knifepoint. The young dad's desperate protests of innocence did not save him. The gang took the law into their own hands.
The attack was merciless. He had knife wounds to his head, neck, body and limbs, with the vast majority inflicted while he was still alive.
The 37-year-old's body was found by a dog walker near a motorway in Skelmersdale days later, on February 22. It had remained undiscovered for four days.
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A wrong-headed plot which ended in appalling violence began on the evening before Christopher's murder, when the attackers wrongly believed he had committed a sexual offence. However, DNA evidence submitted in that investigation did not match Christopher's.
The gang - who all knew each other or were related - chose to deliver their own 'justice'. They searched the Wigan area for hours on the evening of Thursday, February 17, 2022, eventually turning up at Christopher's home and storming in.
The gang's hunt continued the following day until Christopher, the father of a young daughter, was abducted in broad daylight. He was forced into the boot of a car in Almond Grove in the Worsley Hall area of Wigan, and driven at speed to Skelmersdale. A man who witnessed the abduction was warned by one of the gang, Erland Sphahiu, to "keep your f...ing mouth shut, or your'e next'.
Near the remote area of White Moss Road South, Christopher was brutally attacked and killed in act of mistaken retribution. Later that evening, the gang reconvened and put a plan in place to hide Christopher’s body, with a number forming a burial party, equipped with a spade, wellies, gloves, bottles of bleach and bin bags.
But they were disturbed by police in the area who were investigating a road traffic accident and abandoned their plans, and Christopher’s body remained undiscovered for several days in snowy, wet weather.
The killers tried to cover their tracks by destroying CCTV, changing telephones, deleting messages and disposing of the Audi used in the kidnap. Hours of CCTV footage was recovered and painstakingly reviewed by police officers who were able to discover the defendants’ activities, and movements which ended in Christopher’s life being cruelly taken.
Detective Inspector Heidi Cullum, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “These men took the law into their own hands and murdered Christopher Hughes. What they did in February last year was nothing short of atrocious.
"The work of the Major Incident Team and specialist units within GMP, along with the Crown Prosecution Service in bringing these individuals to justice, has been meticulous. We only hope the verdict and sentences brings some justice and comfort to his family and friends.”
Christopher's family said they were relieved with the outcome of the case. “We would like to thank sincerely the officers of Greater Manchester Police and the North West Crown Prosecution Service for their hard work on this case over the past number of months", they said.
"We are pleased that justice has finally been done. It will not bring Christopher back, but he will live on in our hearts forever and the memories of him we will hold dearly.”
Eight men have now been jailed for a minimum of 229 years for the brutal kidnap and murder of Christopher, after a trial which began in October last year.
A trial that began in October 2022 concluded last month with the conviction of eight men for the kidnap and murder of Mr Hughes.
- Erland Spahiu, 34, of White Moss Road, Skelmersdale, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Curtis Balbas, 31, of Matheson Drive, Wigan got life with a minimum term of 34 years for murder, and 9 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Martin Smith, 34, of Laithwaite Road, Wigan, received 33 years for murder, and 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Razgar Khader Mohammed, 41, of Plane Avenue, Wigan was jailed for life with a minimum term 27 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Alan Jaf, 52, of Ridyard Street, Wigan, must serve 26 years for murder, and 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Khalil Awla, 49, of Greenwood, Wigan, must serve a minimum of 26 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Dean Smeaton O’Neill-Davey, 30, of Bulteel Street, Wigan, must serve 25 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently
- Erion Voja, 21, of Peall Road, Croydon, was given a minimum term of 23 years for murder, 10 Years for kidnap to run concurrently
A ninth man, Andrius Uzkuraitis, 27, of Holly Road, Wigan, was convicted of assisting an offender and jailed for six years.
The assault included them holding Mr Hughes’ legs apart and deliberately injuring his scrotum and anus.
Mr Justice Wall told the defendants: "I can only conclude (those injuries) were thought to be suitable punishment for someone suspected of having committed a sexual offence. They would have been for Mr Hughes both humiliating and painful.”
He told them he was prepared to accept that they all believed that the girl’s allegation was true and that it was Mr Hughes who was responsible. “That belief does not begin to justify the attack on him,” he added.
Mr Justice Wall told the defendants: “It was a murder which was designed to obstruct or interfere with the course of justice. The starting point for sentence is therefore 30 years.”
The judge said that he was satisfied Balbas, Spahiu and Martin Smith, who was initially in the Audi when Mr Hughes was kidnapped, intended that Mr Hughes should die.
In an impact statement read out at Liverpool Crown Court, Christopher's mum, Susan Hudson, said that the lives of her, his father, sisters, daughter and wider family unit ”will never be complete again.” She said that losing a child at any age was devastating and “although he was an adult he was still my child.
“The death of Christopher, my child, leaves us with love we can no longer give him …and a feeling that in some vital way we failed to keep him from harm.”
She continued that the decision by the killers to use their hands as tools for their perceived “justice and revenge” and to take his life “scars my heart.”
Mrs Hudson said that his body had been “discarded like it didn’t matter as if a living soul could be disposed of like a piece of litter."
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