How thief who murdered Amazon driver was caught

Claudiu-Carol Kondor died when he was thrown from the van he had been driving for Amazon

New techniques used to secure a man's murder conviction after an Amazon delivery driver was killed while trying to stop his van from being stolen have been revealed by police for the BBC's Crimewatch programme.

Claudiu-Carol Kondor, 42, had still been hanging onto his van as Mark Ross drove it into parked cars after hitting speeds of up to 60mph (96 km/h) on residential streets in Leeds on 20 August 2024.

Ross claimed he did not know Mr Kondor was holding on to the van, but in March he was convicted of murder and jailed for life.

Detectives said evidence showing the speed the van was travelling and how hard it was braking and accelerating had been key in offering evidence of intent to the jury.

Det Ch Insp James Entwhistle, from West Yorkshire Police, told Crimewatch that before his death, Mr Kondor, who was originally from Romania but who lived in Sheffield, had been travelling on his normal route and had called his partner to say he would be late home.

Mr Kondor would not normally have left his keys in the ignition and the van unlocked, but he was "rushing and wanted to get finished", Det Ch Insp Entwhistle told the BBC.

"That gave that fraction of a second more for the suspect to jump into the driver's seat of the van."

When Mr Kondor realised what was happening he ran back to the van to stop Ross, but was left hanging onto the passenger side of the vehicle as it was driven off.

"Claudiu was desperately clinging on for his life. He was shouting and screaming loud enough for people outside the van to hear him," Det Ch Insp Entwhistle said.

There followed a collision with a parked vehicle, but Mr Kondor managed to hold on until a second collision when he was left by the roadside.

Mark Ross was was found guilty of murder following a trial at Leeds Crown Court

Det Sgt Adrian Bell, from West Yorkshire Police, told Crimewatch that as multiple calls were made to the emergency services about the incident, it was "imperative" they deployed as many resources as possible to the area.

Mr Kondor's phone was recovered at the scene and police found it had an app connected to a GPS tracker on his van.

This enabled officers to find where the van had been dumped and prompted an intensive door-to-door operation.

Det Ch Insp Entwhistle said that had prompted a phone call to the incident room.

"That phone call from someone gave us a name of a possible offender. That name was Mark Ross."

Once Ross was declared a suspect, officers began to build up a picture of, and identified, an address he was believed to be staying at.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder on 21 August.

'Cutting edge'

Det Ch Insp Entwhistle said Ross wanted people to believe Mr Kondor's death had been "a tragic accident and that he didn't know Claudiu was in the vehicle".

However, as revealed on the BBC's Crimewatch programme, to help prove that Ross would indeed have known, the detectives asked telematics expert Det Con Alex Smith for assistance.

"It's a new technique and it's cutting edge. This was the second time such telematic evidence was used in court," Det Con Smith said.

The technology enabled them to assess the speed of the vehicle, the g-force that was being exerted and how hard Ross was accelerating and braking.

"The vehicle was doing 56.5mph in the lead-up to the collision, which was far above the speed limit," Det Con Smith said.

"What I was also able to explain is how harsh acceleration and braking indicated that potentially the defendant was trying to throw Mr Kondor from the vehicle."

Det Ch Insp Entwhistle said from this evidence, it was clear Ross had been driving dangerously right up to the moment Mr Kondor was left by the road.

While Ross had entered an early guilty plea to manslaughter, that was rejected by the Crown and, at Leeds Crown Court on 12 March this year, a jury convicted him of murder.

Sentencing Ross, the judge said he would serve a minimum term of 30 years, adding that Mr Kondor must "have been terrified in the last seconds of his life".

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