Christopher Hughes was the victim of mistaken identity who paid the price with his life.
The 37-year-old was murdered by a vigilante gang in 2022 and his body found by a dog walker.
A new true-crime series on Channel 4, Manhunt, reveals the frantic attempts by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to locate Hughes immediately after he was kidnapped and then to track down his killers.
His story is part of a three-episode docuseries which goes behind the scenes with GMP officers from the Serious Crime and Specialist Operations teams.
Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson, from GMP, said: “The docuseries gives an extraordinary insight into some of the things our officers deal with within their working lives, and the extreme lengths they go to to keep Greater Manchester’s communities safe by identifying and arresting those who have caused harm or may go on to do so.”
Manhunt premiers on Channel 4 on Tuesday 14 January at 9pm, with the remaining two episodes shown on successive Tuesdays in the same time slot.
We take a look at the life of Hughes and what happened to his killers.
Christopher Hughes was a former boxer from Wigan, who was abducted from the street in broad daylight on 18 February, 2022.
The unemployed father of one was suspected by his kidnappers of having sexually assaulted a teenage girl at knifepoint behind a post office in Wigan earlier that year.
DNA evidence revealed he was not a match for the attack on the girl.
But a gang of men, who believed he was, were bent on revenge and had searched for him for hours in the Wigan area on the evening 17 February, even breaking into his home.
The next day he was found in Almond Street, Wigan, by two of the gang, who abducted and bundled him into the boot of a blue Audi A4.
Christopher Hughes, right (Photo: Greater Manchester Police/SWNS.com)What happened to Christopher Hughes?
Hughes was driven to an isolated country road, White Moss Road South, in Skelmersdale where he was subjected to a brutal attack by the gang.
Using knives and machetes, the gang members inflicted horrific injuries on Hughes including severing a tendon in his leg so he could not run away.
He had more than 90 wounds to his head, body and limbs, the vast majority inflicted while he was still alive.
The men then formed a burial party and equipped with a spade, wellies, gloves, bottles of bleach and binbags, began digging a grave on nearby wasteland.
But they were disturbed by police cars investigating a road traffic collision nearby and so abandoned the burial.
Instead, Hughes’ body was left at the scene on a grassy embankment where it was found four days later by dog walker.
The gang’s car was found at a breaker’s yard in Wigan, where it had been dismantled.
What happened to Christopher Hughes’ killers?
Five men were arrested by GMP shortly after Hughes’ body was found and a further four as the investigation continued.
The trial of Hughes’ killers began at Liverpool Crown Court in October 2022 and concluded in January 2023 with the conviction of seven men for kidnap and murder.
An eighth man, Curtis Balbas, of Matheson Drive, Wigan, admitted kidnap and later changed his plea to guilty of murder.
All were sentenced on 9 February, 2023 at Liverpool Crown Court:
Erland Spahiu, of White Moss Road, Skelmersdale, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Curtis Balbas, of Matheson Drive, Wigan was jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years for murder, nine years for kidnap to run concurrently. Martin Smith, of Laithwaite Road, Wigan, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 33 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Razgar Khader Mohammed, of Plane Avenue, Wigan, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Alan Jaf, of Ridyard Street, Wigan, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Khalil Awla, of Greenwood, Wigan, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Dean Smeaton O’Neill-Davey, of Bulteel Street, Wigan, was jailed for life with a minimum term 25 years for murder, 12 years for kidnap to run concurrently. Erion Voja, of Peall Road, Croydon, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for murder, 10 years for kidnap to run concurrently.A ninth man, Andrius Uzkuraitis of Holly Road, Wigan, was convicted of assisting an offender and jailed for six years.
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