Jail for robber who tried to steal from Peterborough drug dealer who was shot in head as he fled
A robber who admitted plotting to steal from a drug dealer who was then shot in the head as he tried to escape has been jailed.
Christopher Pycroft, 40, claimed he had made a plan with Lewis Hutchinson, 30, to place an order for class A drugs, but would then rob the dealer.
The victim, 29-year-old Mihal Dobre, had driven to a meeting place in the Paston area of Peterborough to deliver the drugs - but when he saw Hutchinson and Pycroft approaching the car from either side, he realised he was about to be robbed.
He tried to drive off but was shot in the back of the head by Hutchinson, who earlier this year was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Pycroft was jailed at Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday for five years and three months in prison, after admitting conspiracy to commit robbery.
At the earlier murder trial, Pycroft told the jury Hutchinson had come up with the plan while they were drinking and smoking crack cocaine together, and that he had then turned up at Pycroft’s home with a shotgun.
The plan was for Hutchinson to pull out the gun and tell the driver to hand over the drugs.
But, as they carried out the plan on the Crabtree estate in Paston just after midnight on 13 April last year, Hutchinson pulled out the gun and shot through the rear driver’s side window, hitting Mr Dobre in the back of his head.
Hutchinson had tried to claim he was holding the gun for someone else and the trigger somehow went off, telling the jury he was "devastated".
Det Insp Richard Stott, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit, said: “This is a tragic case where a father, son and partner lost his life after getting involved in supplying drugs.
“From a starting point of 14 years, Judge Enright reduced Pycroft’s sentence by half to take into account the evidence he gave in support of our prosecution case, and by a further 25% for his guilty plea.
“I hope today is the start of delivering justice for Mr Dobre’s family.”
Hutchinson, of Eastern Avenue, Dogsthorpe, is due to be sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court later in May.
His grandmother, Diane Riley, 65, of Spirewic Avenue, Skegness, and his aunt, Jeanie Stewart, 45, of Waddington Way, Skegness, are also awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after helping Hutchinson to leave Peterborough following the murder.
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