Thief jailed for life for Amazon driver's murder

A thief who killed an Amazon delivery driver who was trying to stop his van from being stolen has been sentenced to life in prison.

Claudiu Carol-Kondor, 42, died when Mark Ross drove the van into a parked car after hitting speeds of up to 60mph (96 km/h) on residential streets in Leeds on 20 August.

During his trial at Leeds Crown Court, Ross claimed he did not know Mr Kondor, from Sheffield, was hanging on to the van after he stole it, but he was convicted of murder by a jury.

Sentencing the 32-year-old, of Conference Road, Armley, a judge said he would serve a minimum term of 30 years and added that Mr Kondor must "have been terrified in the last seconds of his life".

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Kondor's fiancé Mariana George said: "My wounded heart is still waiting for him to walk into the house."

She said: "Claudiu worked hard and dreamed of buying his own van. He finally did this three weeks before he was killed.

"Ours was a beautiful relationship. He was a man of integrity and hard work.

"He loved his job and always wanted to do his best."

The couple lived in Sheffield together but she added that she has since returned to their home country of Romania.

In her statement, she described how since Mr Kondor's murder, the meaning of her life had changed.

"Plans have disappeared completely, the desire to wake up in the morning has disappeared, the feeling of being able to walk safely in the street; disappeared.

"The dream of getting married and living a quiet life in England has died.

"Loneliness has forced me to return to Romania with a broken heart."

Jurors heard Mr Kondor was delivering parcels in the Armley area using his own Transit van, which was full of parcels he had collected from an Amazon depot.

While he was away from his vehicle delivering a parcel, Ross, who lived nearby and had gone out to buy cannabis, climbed into the driver's seat and started to drive the van away, the court heard.

Mr Kondor tried to stop him by opening the front nearside passenger door of the van and attempting to climb in.

The court was told how Ross sped off and swerved erratically from side to side before hitting two parked cars, all in an effort to "get rid" of Mr Kondor as he hung on to the van from the open passenger door.

Witnesses described Mr Kondor's legs dragging on the ground as he clung on to the inside of the open door, with one woman saying she heard him shouting for help.

Mr Kondor died from head and chest injuries from the second crash, the court heard.

Ross denied murder, but was convicted with a majority verdict of 10 to one on Wednesday.

Mitigating, James Keeley said Ross's intention was "to cause serious bodily harm rather than kill".

"It was an unplanned reaction to Mr Kondor grabbing hold of the passenger door," he added.

"He has previous convictions, but none for serious violence, and he's expressed remorse. He has to live with the guilt."

However, judge Mr Justice Goss said he did not accept this and that Ross had lied.

"He said he was never aware that Mr Kondor was hanging on to the van. That's not true remorse."

Passing sentence, the judge said: "Although I cannot be sure you intended to kill Mr Kondor, your actions must have terrified him in the last minute of his life, knowing he had to hang on to his speeding van or fall onto the road."

He added: "You ignored his pleas to stop and callously murdered him, thereby not only depriving him of his life, but also taking a much-loved and hard-working partner away from [Ms George]."

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