A Hatfield man who murdered his Stevenage cousin in a bitter family feud has been jailed.
John ‘Boy’ Ward, of Clarkson Court, was today (Friday) told he will spend at least 32 years behind bars after being given a life sentence.
The court heard the murder was pre-planned, and committed yards from the victim’s family.
Jurors were unanimous in their decision to convict John ‘Boy’, for the shooting of cousin Thomas Ward at his Dyes Lane caravan home in April last year.
Just days before he died, Thomas, 21, had become a father, and his family were in his caravan when he was shot.
John ‘Boy’, 32, had denied murder and said he fled the country following Thomas’ death as he feared for his own life – due to a family feud stretching back 20 years.
The wife of John ‘Boy’, Joeleen, 22, who he lived with at Clarkson Court, his brother Francis, 36, of Stable Way in Kensington, and his sister Winifred, 47, of Cambridge Road in Hounslow, were all found guilty of assisting an offender.
The four will be sentenced at the court on November 11.
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