Brett Flournoy: Man jailed for murder of ex-boxer........

A MAN was found guilty of the shotgun murder of a Wirral underworld enforcer linked to an IRA drugs gang.

Brett Flournoy, 31, from Bebington, and his partner David Griffiths, 35, were gunned down by Thomas Haigh, 26, an ex- drugs mule who owed them tens of thousands in drug debts.

Flournoy and Griffiths were bullying Haigh into making another trip to pick up drugs in Brazil when he killed them at a farm in Cornwall last June.

The bodies of Flournoy, a boxer and pub landlord with two children and dad-of-three Griffiths, from Bracknell, Berks, were put in their van and burned before being buried in their vehicle at Sunny Corner, near St Austell.

A jury at Truro Crown Court took less than three hours to find Haigh, formerly of Huddersfield, guilty of two counts of murder.

His co-accused, Ross Stone, 28, who lived at Sunny Corner and also owed the pair large drug debts, was cleared of murder and manslaughter, but has admitted a charge of obstructing a coroner by illegally disposing of the bodies.
Both had blamed the other for the killing of the men, whom Haigh claimed worked for an IRA gang that “ran” Liverpool’s drugs trade.

The court had heard the builder had run up debts of between £30,000 and £40,000 with Griffiths and Flournoy after intervening to help a friend in debt.
He said he faced constant death threats against him and his family from the pair and their associates, who rang him on his mobile “every 10-15 minutes”.
Flournoy drove down from Merseyside in a Citroen van, picking Griffiths up on the way.

Stone said he had returned to the farm last June 16 to find the drug dealers’ bodies on the ground. Flournoy had been shot in the back and Griffiths in the face.

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Perkins, who led the investigation, said: “Despite what we have heard about organised crime during this trial, they have left behind young children, partners, parents and brothers and sisters.”