Brian Waters: TV researcher guilty of murdering father in front of children at Cheshire farm
An undercover TV researcher who spent 16 years wanted by police has been found guilty of torturing and murdering a cannabis farmer in front of his children.
Brian Waters, 44, was beaten, tied up and suspended upside down during the attack at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford, Cheshire in June 2003.
More than 18 years after the brutal killing, Christopher Guest More jr has been convicted by a majority of 10 to two of murder at Chester Crown Court.
The 43-year-old was arrested in 2019 in Malta where he had been living under the name of Andrew Lamb.
The jury also found him guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Suleman Razak, who worked on the cannabis farm and was tortured at the same time as the murder.
On Thursday, 9 December, wearing a grey suit and white shirt, More, one of the gang who attacked Waters, shook his head as the verdicts were read out.
More claimed he had befriended drug dealer John Wilson, one of three men already convicted of the Brian Waters' murder.
As an undercover TV researcher, he said he thought he could sell a story on Wilson being a police informant.
He had said he hoped Mr Wilson would show him the cannabis farm which he could film for a Dispatches documentary.
Brian Waters was a cannabis dealer who was growing the plants at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford, Cheshire.
Jurors were told the attack was carried out over a £20,000 drugs debt between Waters and Wilson.
More found where the cannabis farm was located after following Mr Waters' son Gavin, who was 25 at the time of the killing.
On 19 June 2003, Mr Waters was tortured for four hours and killed at the farm in front of his son and daughter.
His wife was also abducted from the family home and driven to the farm.
Mr Waters and Mr Razak, who survived the torture, were tied up and suspended from rafters, beaten, dropped in barrels of liquid, had staple guns used on their bodies and were assaulted with a metal bar.
After the police were called by Wilson's driver, David Moran, they discovered drinks bottles, cigarette butts and a bag of faeces which all had traces of More's DNA.
James Raven, who did television work with More, and Otis Matthews have also been convicted of murder at earlier trials.
More, who had been working as a yacht captain and businessman in Malta, claimed he had gone to the farm that morning to steal cannabis equipment.
He says that he left when he an argument erupted with Raven, and realised Wilson, who was not at the scene, had discovered he was working undercover.
More left the country for Spain two days later, travelling to South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, before setting in Malta.
Detective Inspector Kate Tomlinson, the senior investigating officer, said Mr Waters' family continued to be affected by the crime.
She said: "They have remained very insular and haven't been able to move on with their lives. They have remained very scared to this day because somebody's been outstanding for the murder of their husband and father."
Judge Sir Peter Openshaw said More will be sentenced on Friday at Chester Crowne Court.