Video shows moment hit men try to 'execute' man
'Killers-for-hire' Liam Johnson, 20, and Carl Johnson, 28, brothers from Salford’s Ordsall estate, are captured on CCTV released by police storming Kurt Crawford’s front door.
Both men are wearing ski-masks and one attempts to slash terrified Mr Crawford with an axe as he cowers in terror. He defends himself with a plastic box filled with rubbish and the would-be contract killers run off.
They were hired by jilted Luigi Dalli, 46, who took out a payday loan to pay for Mr Crawford’s ‘execution’. He had started a relationship with Dalli’s ex-girlfriend, Joanna Beech.
Dalli, a van driver from Sidney Street, Broughton, Salford, reeled in the dock at Manchester Crown Court today as he was jailed for life. He was ordered by a judge to serve a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder and soliciting murder following a trial.
The Johnson brothers, of Chancel Avenue, Salford, agreed to kill Mr Crawford, 39, with an axe and a knife - for just £500 each.Both have also been jailed for life, with minimum tariffs of 15 years, after they were found guilty of conspiracy to murder and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause GBH.
All three were branded ‘dangerous’ offenders. A woman was also jailed for three years.Outside court today, Detective Inspector Martin Melvin said:
On June 14 last year, ‘obsessed’ Dalli drove the brothers to the victim’s address on Cog Lane, Burnley, in a hired van, along with a reluctant 17-year-old boy he embroiled in events, and a tarpaulin to wrap up Mr Crawford’s body in.
Mr Crawford was stabbed and hacked at by the pair after getting out of his car, having spent the weekend with Miss Beech.He escaped with his life after a passer-by saw him trying to fight them off with a recycling bin.
The Johnson brothers, known local hardmen, were introduced to Dalli by his friend and former partner Caroline Meighan, the mother of one of their pals and a neighbour.
Meighan, 43, also of Chancel Avenue, Salford, was found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, after the jury accepted she did not know of the intention to kill. She wept in the dock as she was sentenced.After the attempt on Mr Crawford’s life failed, Dalli tried to kill Mr Crawford a second time, the court heard.
The 17-year-old boy, who was accused of conspiracy to murder, walked free from court after being cleared by the jury.
Judge David Stockdale QC said the ‘physically and psychological scarred’ victim lived in fear of ‘further invasion of his home, fear of going out in public, and fear of further attack’.
The court heard that Dalli ‘masterminded’ the attack after Ms Beech ended the relationship with him last May, after he attacked her at her home in Rawtenstall, Rossendale and damaged her property in a fit of jealousy.In the weeks that followed, he subjected her to an intimidation campaign - damaging her car, driving past her house, and sending her bizarre Facebook messages urging her to stay away from Kurt Crawford.
Before sentence, as he sought unsuccessfully to persuade the judge Luigi Dalli was not ‘dangerous’, defence barrister Charles Miskin QC had said: