Three face jail for seaside revenge murder plot

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) Three men are to be sentenced today after being found guilty of conspiring to murder a married couple in a revenge killing at their seaside bungalow.

John Russell, Michael McNee and a 39-year-old who cannot be named were found guilty yesterday of plotting to murder Joan and John Stirland in August 2004.

They conspired to kill the couple in revenge for a murder carried out by Joan Stirland's son from a previous marriage, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Five defendants were cleared of involvement in the killings.

The court heard how the men burst into the Stirlands' rented home in the remote village of Trusthorpe in Lincolnshire and opened fire.

John Stirland was shot six times and his wife four times.

The couple knew they were at risk of being targeted and had sought refuge in Trusthorpe after an earlier attack on their Nottingham home.

But the three convicted men tracked them down, the court heard. The prosecution was unable however to establish who pulled the trigger and said not all the gang members had been traced.

They struck weeks after Joan Stirland's son Michael O'Brien was jailed for life for killing Marvyn Bradshaw, an innocent man, in a case of mistaken identity.

In a statement, the victims' relatives said the killings had ''devastated the families' lives beyond belief''.

''There is a huge void in our lives that was once filled by John and Joan,'' they said. ''They were innocent victims and did not deserve to die in such a violent, pointless way.'' Lincolnshire Police said the investigation was the biggest in the force's history.

''The murders of John and Joan Stirland were cold blooded, carefully planned and amounted to the callous execution of two completely innocent people,'' said Assistant Chief Constable Peter Davies.

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