One of Europe’s most wanted men has been found guilty of the brutal torture and murder of a dad-of-two on a Cheshire farm.
Christopher Guest More, an undercover TV researcher, fled the UK two days after murdering Brian Waters in front of his children in 2003.
He spent 16 years on the run and was living in Malta under a false name when police caught up with him in 2019.
This week, a jury convicted the 43-year-old of murder by a majority of 10 to 2, more than 18 years after the killing.
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On Thursday, after 12 hours and 12 minutes of deliberations, the jury also found him guilty by a majority verdict 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 2003 murder.
More, wearing a grey suit and white shirt, shook his head as the verdicts were returned, Cheshire Live reports.
In May, a jury was discharged after it failed to agree on verdicts and a retrial at Chester Crown Court began in November.
More claimed he had befriended Manchester-based drug dealer John Wilson, one of three men already convicted of the murder, because he thought he could sell a story on him being a police informant to the media and he might lead him to a cannabis farm, which he could film for a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary.
Mr Waters, a cannabis dealer who was growing the drug at Burnt House Farm, near Knutsford , Cheshire, owed Wilson a drugs debt of £20,000, the court heard.
More, who had done undercover TV work including with journalist Donal McIntyre, discovered where the cannabis farm was after following Mr Waters’ son Gavin, then 25.
On June 19 2003, Mr Waters was tortured and killed at the farm in front of his daughter Natalie, who had just turned 21, and Gavin, while his wife Julie was abducted from the family home and driven to the farm.
Mr Waters and Mr Razak, who survived the four-hour ordeal, 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.
When police arrived at the scene - following a call made from a phone box by Wilson’s driver David Moran - they found a bag containing cigarette ends, drinks bottles and even 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.
Giving evidence, 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 but left when he had an argument with Raven and realised Wilson, who was not at the scene, had discovered he was working undercover.
He left the country for Spain two days later and, after travelling to South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, settled in Malta.
He was arrested in 2019 in Malta, where he had been living under the name Andrew Lamb.
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 would be sentenced on Friday.
Following the verdict, Detective Inspector Tomlinson added: “Today, Christopher Guest More Jr has finally been found guilty of his part in the brutal murder of Brian Waters at Burnt House Farm on 19 June 2003.
"He fled the UK two days after the incident and stole another man’s identity in a bid to evade justice. We never gave up hope of finding him over the years and the guilty verdict marks a significant point in a long and painful road for all those involved.
“The level of violence used against the victims in this case was absolutely shocking.
"As police officers we are used to dealing with violent crime – but the barbaric nature of this attack is something that you never forget.
"When you look at what happened at the farm that day, and what those men did, it feels like something you only ever see in the movies.
"It doesn’t feel like something that could ever happen in real life – let alone in rural Cheshire.”
