Jilted lover who took out a payday loan to hire pair of killers to ‘execute’ his ex-girlfriend’s new partner is jailed for life
Van driver Luigi Dalli paid thug brothers Liam and Carl Johnson just £500 each to kill Kurt Crawford, but he survived
A JILTED lover who took out a payday loan to pay for the "execution" of his ex-girlfriend’s new partner was jailed for life today.
Van driver Luigi Dalli, 46, plotted a contract killing on Kurt Crawford, who had started a relationship with his ex, Joanna Beech.
Killers-for-hire Liam Johnson, 20, and Carl Johnson, 28, agreed to kill Mr Crawford with an axe and a knife for just £500 each.
A court heard that "obsessed" Dalli drove them to the victim’s home in a hired van with tarpaulin to wrap Mr Crawford’s body in.
Mr Crawford, 39, was stabbed and hacked by the two brothers after getting out of his car, having spent the weekend with Miss Beech.
But he escaped with his life after a passer-by saw him trying to fight them off with a recycling bin.
The victim, from Burnley, told the court: ''I saw two figures behind me and they were wearing ski masks. They just came at me and one of them had an axe. The one with the axe was trying to hit me with it, aiming for my head.
''I put my hands up to try and stop the axe whilst the other guy was punching in my stomach area.
"I kept asking: 'Why, I haven't done anything', but there was no communication from them. I picked up a recycling box nearby and used as a shield to stop the axe from hitting me.
"I screamed for help then I heard a voice and the men ran off. It was only then I realised I had been stabbed.''
After that attempt failed in June last year, Dalli tried to kill Mr Crawford a second time in September while on remand for conspiring to murder him.
This time Dalli tried to recruit another prisoner to assassinate him.
But the prisoner - a petty crook named John Griffin - strung him along and then told police of the plot once he was released.
The court heard Dalli had met Miss Beech in March 2013 but he became fixated with her and repeatedly asked her to marry him during their two-year, on-off stormy romance.
On one occasion he glued a huge banner on a bus stop saying: ''Joanna Beech will you marry me.''
Miss Beech told the jury: ''It was all very embarrassing - my son had to go down and take it off.
"My relationship with Luigi had been OK at the beginning but things started going wrong when drink became involved and there were a lot of arguments.
''His family used to say: 'He's not a bad person, you should get back together' whenever we split - but it got very physical at the end of the relationship. There was no way on earth I would ever get back with that man again.'
She said they eventually split up after Dalli hit her in a violent and jealous rage when a man complimented Miss Beech in their local pub.
"Later her car was vandalised twice and she would see Dalli driving past her house and watching her and her two children.
In May last year Miss Beech began dating Mr Crawford - who is single - after meeting him on Facebook, but Dalli created a fake profile under the name Suzie Boyd in a campaign to split them up.
Miss Beech received Facebook messages from Boyd saying: ''Stay away from Kurt, he's married, he'll mess you about - we know you love your kids, you better watch yourself.
"He has a wife and he's on a break. I have done your car, you have got some nice children, next time it won't be the car.''
At the same time Mr Crawford began getting friend requests from Boyd which he blocked.
Police gave Dalli a verbal warning ordering him to stay away from Miss Beech.
Dalli reeled in the dock at Manchester Crown Court as he was jailed for life after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder and soliciting murder in a trial. He must serve 15 years before he can apply for parole.
Judge David Stockdale QC said: "He decided to have Kurt Crawford killed, thinking, in an utterly perverted way, that if Kurt Crawford was removed he would win back Joanna Beech. This was to be a cold-hearted and cold-blooded contract killing.”
The Johnson brothers, from Salford, were also jailed for life after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder and pleading guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. They too must serve a minimum of 15 years.
Their recruiter - a pal of Dalli's - Caroline Meighan, 43, wept as she was jailed for three years after being found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
The judge said the Mr Crawford was "physically and psychologically scarred" and still lived in fear.
He added: "He has suffered insomnia and flashbacks. He’s undergone counselling - his condition amounts to post-traumatic stress disorder."
The court heard that Dalli, from Salford, "masterminded" the attack after Ms Beech dumped him when he attacked her in a fit of jealousy.
In the weeks that followed, he subjected her to an intimidation campaign - damaging her car, driving past her house, and sending her bizarre Facebook messages urging her to stay away from Kurt Crawford.
