Eight men from the Lancashire area have been jailed for a total of 235 years following the kidnap and brutal murder of Christopher Hughes in February last year.

Christopher's body was found in Skelmersale five days after he was murdered.

After a three-month trial, the jury found Khalil Awla 48, Erion Voja 21, Razgar Mohammed 40, Alan Jaf 52, Dean O’Neill-Davey 30, Erland Spahiu 34, and Martin Smith 38, guilty of kidnapping and murdering Christopher Hughes.

Curtis Balbas 30, had previously pleaded guilty to kidnapping Christopher, from Wigan, and admitted the murder after the prosecution case had concluded at trial.

Andrius Uzkuraitis 27 was found guilty of assisting an offender.

On the evening of February 17 2022, the group of men were actively looking for Christopher as they wrongly believed that he was responsible for an attack on a woman.

As well as searching the streets, the group also went to his house on two occasions, but Christopher wasn’t home.

Around 4.30pm on the February 18 they finally tracked Christopher down on Almond Grove in Wigan, a residential area.

Balbas and Spahiu jumped out of the car and punched Christopher to the ground before forcing him into the boot of the Audi vehicle they were travelling in.

Martin Smith remained in the back of the car.

Christopher was murdered later that day and his body was discarded on the embankment on White Moss Road South.

Later that evening some of the group went to the same location in Skelmersdale and began digging a grave. They were disturbed by police cars in the area on an unrelated matter.

Christopher’s body was not discovered until five days later, around 11am on February 23 2022 when a dog walker alerted police to the body of the 37-year-old.

A post mortem confirmed that Christopher had 90 sharp force injuries to his head, neck, body and limbs. The vast majority of these were inflicted whilst he was still alive.

The pathologist concluded that this was a sustained and very violent attack, where more than one weapon including a machete or hatchet, had been used to cause injuries to Christopher.

The group made efforts to cover their tracks, they arranged for CCTV to be destroyed, they changed telephones, deleted messages and disposed of the Audi car that was used to transport Christopher to Skelmersdale.

Rebecca Macaulay-Addison of CPS North West’s Complex Casework Unit said: ”These men were responsible for the death of Christopher, in violent and terrifying circumstances.

“The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) worked hard with the Major Incident Team at GMP to build a strong case, pulling together all the evidence including eyewitness testimony, CCTV footage, forensic evidence, mobile phone messages and telephone location data, into a compelling case to place before the jury.

“My thoughts are very much with Christopher’s family who I know feel his loss deeply.”

The men were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 9 February 2023 .

  • Khalil Awla was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years.
  • Erion Voja was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 23 years.
  • Razgar Mohammed was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 27 years.
  • Alan Jaf was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years.
  • Dean O’Neill-Davey was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.
  • Erland Spahiu was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years.
  • Martin Smith was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 33 years.
  • Curtis Balbas was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 34 years.
  • Andrius Uzkuraitis was sentenced to 6 years in prison for assisting an offender.

Michael Gibbons was found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.