Guilty finding in crossbow contract

Press, 12 September 1986, Page 4

Guilty finding in crossbow contract

A man looked surprised and shocked when a jury found him guilty of attempting to procure Kelvin Joseph Goodwin to murder a person with a crossbow, in the High Court yesterday. Norman Patrick Kingsford, aged 38, a radio operator, was remanded in custody to September 19, for sentence, by Mr Justice Hardie Boys. Evidence was given that Kingsford acted as a “go-between” in a $lOO murder contract to find a hit man to murder Dennis Murray Drinkwater, who was subsequently blown up in. an explosion when he got into his truck at Mogal Bin Services in Waterloo Road, Hornby, on February 18. No one has been charged with his murder. A man, who was referred to several times during the trial, had his name suppressed at the request of his counsel, Miss Jill Pengelly, who was not taking part in the case. The jury took just over

an hour to reach a verdiet. Messrs David Saunders I and Mark Zarifeh appeared for the Crown, and Mr Colin Eason for Kingsford. The defence called no evidence. 3 Both Mr Saunders and Mr Justice Hardie Boys emphasised that the case had nothing to do with Mr Drinkwater’s death. The main Crown wit- | ness, Kelvin Joseph Goodwin, was declared hostile on the application of Mr Saunders, who was given leave to crossexamine his own witness. Shortly before Goodwin gave evidence, he was i: sentenced to six months imprisonment in the District Court on a charge of breaking into the flat of a S woman, aged 18. Goodwin had appeared ■«.? naked in her lounge after he had knocked at her window and asked her to have sex with him. The jury had found him not ’ guilty of charges of indecently assaulting her and doing an indecent act with 3 intent to offend her.