Mihai Dobre murder: Man found guilty of fatal drug dealer shooting

Mihai Dobre, 29, died in hospital after he was shot in the back of the head

A man who claimed he accidentally shot a drug dealer when the gun he was holding went off in his hands has been found guilty of murder.

Mihai Dobre, 29, died after being shot in the head in Crabtree, in the Paston area of Peterborough, on 13 April.

Prosecutors said Mr Dobre had been fatally injured as he tried to flee the scene of a drug deal.

Lewis Hutchinson, 29, was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rob after a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.

The court heard Mr Dobre had driven to Crabtree with his partner to deliver class A drugs to Hutchinson and a second man, 40-year-old Christopher Pycroft.

However, as the two men approached his car, Mr Dobre feared he was about to be robbed and began to drive off, at which point he was fatally shot.

Lewis Hutchinson was found guilty after a trial at Peterborough Crown Court

Hutchinson told the court he and Pycroft had gone to buy drugs from Mr Dobre and at some stage Pycroft had pulled out a shotgun and asked him to hold it.

He said he had agreed and was holding it "like a baby" about four or five metres from the car when the trigger went off.

He told the jury he was "devastated" at what had happened.

A firearms expert later told the court it was near impossible for the trigger to have gone off on its own.

Christopher Pycroft admitted conspiracy to commit robbery

After the shooting, Hutchinson made his way to a nearby travellers' site where he called his grandmother, Diane Riley, and asked to be picked up.

Riley alongside Hutchinson's aunt, Jeanie Stewart, took him to her home in Skegness and helped him dispose of his clothing.

He was arrested the following day.

Hutchinson, of Eastern Avenue, Dogsthorpe, in Peterborough, is due to be sentenced on 10 February.

Pycroft, of Crabtree, Peterborough, previously admitted a charge of conspiracy to rob, while Riley, of Spirewic Avenue, and Stewart, of Waddington Way, both in Skegness, admitted a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

All three are due to be sentenced at a later date.