UK: Man jailed after stealing delivery van, running over its driver, dragging him and killing him

A man has been jailed after hhe stole a delivery van, knocked its driver over and dragged him for 700 metres, killing him.

Christopher El Gifari, 32, had denied murder and robbery but admitted charges of manslaughter and theft but was ultimately found guilty.

He will be made to serve a minimum term of 32 years.

Mark Lang had left his van on Laytonia Avenue, Cardiff, to deliver a parcel on 28 March.

The 54-year-old courier was fatally injured when he tried to stop El Gifari from getting away.

A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard Mr Lang, from the Cyncoed area of the city, had suffered head injuries.

He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales and died on 15 April.

Emergency services were initially called to a report of a collision involving a single vehicle on North Road, Cathays.

Police enquiries discovered the vehicle was a delivery van which had been stolen from Laytonia Avenue by El Gifari.

Mr Lang had stood in front of his van in an attempt to stop El Gifari but he was driven over and dragged at least 743m (2,437ft).

The van was recorded travelling at 47mph by speed cameras on North Road.

It then came to a stop at the junction with New Zealand Road, when the defendant ran from the scene.

Mr Lang was critically injured and despite the efforts of medical professionals, he never regained consciousness and died of his injuries 18 days later.

Speaking after the jury returned its verdict, Detective Inspector Rebecca Merchant from South Wales Police said Mr Lang had sustained his fatal injuries “while simply doing his job”.

She said El Gifari made a “conscious decision to steal Mark’s van and then drive it at speed into Mark”.

DI Merchant said while “nothing can bring Mark back”, she hoped the outcome would “bring a degree of comfort to all those who love him”.

In a statement, Mr Lang’s family thanked the jury, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as those who helped him in the aftermath of the incident.

They said the last few months had been “traumatic” and that Mr Lang’s death had been “brutal, and ultimately pointless”.

“We now have to struggle to face life without him,” they added.

“His partner now faces life alone, his daughters won’t have their dad to walk them down the aisle, his grandchildren will never know their grandad.

“We will have to live through the memories we know he would have treasured if he were there with us.”

Handing down his sentence, Mr Justice Griffiths said El Gifari had taken “a son away from his mother” and “bereaved his partner of 23 years”.

“You deprived his two daughters of their father, a sister of her brother, and his partner’s children of their father figure,” he added.

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Mr Lang was “well-known and well-liked as a driver who had for 15 years been delivering parcels to Cardiff residents,” Mr Justice Griffiths said.

“You were determined to drive over Mr Lang and get away with his van contents, come what may.”