Brothers guilty of car radio theft murder

LONDON (Reuters) - Two brothers who ran over a father and dragged him 40 yards along a road after he caught them trying to steal his van radio were found guilty of murder on Wednesday.

Albert Willett, 26, and his brother Tommy, 24, of Stratford, east London, attempted to steal the radio to fund their drugs habit, the jury at the Old Bailey heard.

They were spotted by Balbir Matharu, a father-of-two from east London, who tried to prevent them driving off by banging his hands on the bonnet of their Ford Mondeo car.

Matharu, a 54-year-old driver for a local builders' merchant, was dragged along the street.

His body was found by his wife, but he died shortly afterwards from his injuries.

Within two hours of the incident in 2006, the brothers had taken their car to a scrapyard to be crushed in fear the registration number would be traced.

"The only way to describe the Willett brothers is as absolute low-life," said Detective Chief Inspector John Macdonald after the case.

"They were so desperate to get away when Mr Matharu caught them in the act of stealing his car radio that they ran him over and dragged him for 40 yards along the road, causing horrific injuries.

"They couldn't have cared less about what they had done and bragged about it to others."