A CHESHAM man accused of conspiring to kill a former hippy' has been found not guilty.

Stephen Lloyd, of Hospital Hill, was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender.

He appeared with three other men over the crowbar murder of 60-year-old Douglas Belcher.

Reading Crown Court was told the men went to steal cannabis plants and cash from Mr Belcher's Milton Keynes home on April 2 last year.

Mr Lloyd's half-brother Benjamin Lloyd, 30 smelt the plants when cleaning Mr Belcher's windows the court was told.

Mahad Ali, 20, from Cecil Road, Harrow was today found guilty of Mr Belcher's murder.

A struggle took place in Mr Belcher's garage in which he was attacked by Ali, the court was told.

Mr Belcher was a former 'hippy', the court was told, and grew the plants for his own use.

Benjamin Karl Lloyd, 30, of no fixed abode and Yussuf Mire, 19, of Maryatt Avenue, Harrow were cleared of murder.

Stephen and Benjamin Lloyd were found guilty of assisting an offender.

All four defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle at the start of the trial.

Det Chf Insp Mick Saunders, who led the Thames Valley Police's investigation into the murder, said: "The murder of Doug Belcher at his home in Bletchley was a tragic waste of life.

"He will be sorely missed by his widow, sister and son, and their families.

"The trial established that Doug's death resulted from a targeted plan to burgle his home, where the group intended to break in to steal both large sums of cash and a crop of cannabis they believed to be being held and cultivated there.

"The trial was unusual in that all four defendants pleaded guilty, at its start, to a conspiracy to burgle, admitting their joint criminal enterprise and their presence at a nearby hotel the night before, planning the burglary, going to nearby shops to buy equipment and going to Doug's home.

"The jury was left to consider, on the evidence before them, the inferences and subjective questions of law within the murder charge."

An anonymous tip to charity Crimestoppers proved a major break in the case, he said.

Det Chf Insp Saunders said: "It is clear from their verdict that the jury did not believe the testimonies and accounts offered by all the defendants in some complicated areas of law."

Instead the jury "recognised the callous ruthlessness in going through with the avarice-fuelled burglary and the use of fatal force, without any real hesitation as to what the likely outcome would be".

The defendants will be sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday.

For a report from the trial click the link below.

2:15pm Friday 28th March 2008

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