Man jailed after killing teenager with claw hammer and knife and keeping body in attic while his 3 young children lived beneath
‘As a mother, to lose one of your children is the hardest thing ever and very painful'
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A window cleaner has been jailed for life for murdering a teenage drug dealer and hiding his corpse in his loft for eight months.
Gary Hopkins bludgeoned 17-year-old Abdi Ali with a claw hammer and stabbed him repeatedly with a 6in knife shortly before Christmas 2017.
He then rolled his body in a duvet cover and hid it along with the weapons in the attic of the home he shared with partner Stacy Docherty, 28, and their three children in Enfield, north London.
Abdi’s dealing was linked to the violent Get Money Gang and the 5ft2in teen was using Hopkins’ home as a base under a so-called “cuckooing” arrangement.
London's Old Bailey heard Hopkins and Docherty were both addicted to heroin and crack cocaine.
After killing Abdi, Hopkins – known as “the magician” for his love of conjuring - took some £400 from his body to give his own family a good Christmas before taking them to Herefordshire, to hide.
Though the boy’s family had reported him missing, but Abdi’s murder only came to light when Hopkins boasted to friends about what he had done. He even showed them the body.
Hopkins denied murder after he was caught and blamed another drug dealer.
But he was convicted by a jury in March after 16 hours of deliberations.
He had previously admitted perverting the course of justice and preventing the lawful burial of a body.
The court heard he had multiple previous convictions, including one for causing death by dangerous driving in 1999.
The jury cleared his partner of murder but was unable to reach verdicts on the two other charges.
Docherty later pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice a few weeks before a retrial was due to commence.
She admitted helping get Abdi’s body into the attic and helping to clean the blood, saying she was terrified of Hopkins and of her children seeing what had happened.
She added: “He could have hurt me. He had just killed someone. He’s a loose cannon.”
Jailing Hopkins for life with a minimum term of 22 years, Judge Nicholas Hilliard, the Recorder of London, told him: “The defendants were addicts, addicted to heroin and crack cocaine. You, Mr Hopkins, were well aware of the violence that surrounds that trade and on occasions your own household was subject to frightening behaviour.
“But I am satisfied you regarded this as an inevitable consequence of the company you kept and I am sure you were not unduly worried about it and I am sure you could be very intimidating yourself when you wanted to be. I am sure Abdi Ali operated from your flat because it suited the gang and it suited you, Mr Hopkins, in that you would receive drugs at an advantageous rate.
“If you had not wanted him there you would have simply thrown him out.”
Judge Hilliard said the fact Hopkins’s three children were living at the address showed “what life there was like and what had become acceptable”.
He said: “You have chosen not to say in court what your reason for this killing was. I’m sure I can infer you must have had a grievance of some sort against Abdi Ali arising out of drug operations – I am satisfied it was all of a situation of your own making.”
Handing Docherty a prison term of two years and three months, the judge said: “I am sure you wanted to avoid confrontation with Mr Hopkins and for your children to avoid seeing unpleasant things. You were scared. He had been violent towards you before and you did what he asked of you.”
But he criticised her for continuing to conceal the crime even when she knew Abdi’s family were desperate for news.
“I don’t believe you were as devastated about having a body in the attic as you claimed to have been at trial,” he said.
In a statement, the victim’s mother AIisha Abdullahi said: “I am aware that Abdi had trouble with police before but as a family we were hoping that he would change since he was still very young. However, he does not have that opportunity now. As a mother, to lose one of your children is the hardest thing ever and very painful.”
Speaking after the case, Angela Moriarty, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a callous crime where the defendants showed no remorse. Abdi’s family were kept in the dark for eight months while his body was hidden in the attic. This has been a traumatic time for Abdi’s family and I hope that the convictions bring some small comfort that justice has been served.”
Additional reporting by Press Association