Hounslow: Cannabis factory break-in murderers jailed for life

Shaddai Smith and Jason Sebran were both jailed for life after Smith stabbed Renato Geci to death

Two burglars who murdered a man during an attempt to steal drugs valued at £100,000 have been jailed for life.

Shaddai Smith, 32, and Jason Sebran, 38, killed a 21-year-old and wounded his older brother after breaking into a house in Hounslow, west London in 2021.

Smith stabbed Renato Geci to death with a kitchen knife while Sebran restrained and attacked Vilson Geci, 29, with a screwdriver.

The property the brothers were in was being used as a cannabis factory.

Smith and Sebran were each sentenced to a minimum term of 19 years.

They were found guilty of murder and wounding with intent by a jury last week. They admitted burglary.

Renato Geci was murdered in a house in Hounslow being used as a cannabis factory

Judge Howard Crowson said that even though Smith delivered the fatal wound, Sebran provided "assistance and encouragement".

He added: "In the event of a confrontation you were prepared to use lethal force to escape capture. I am satisfied the intent was to kill, although the intent was only formed a short time before the fatal blow."

The trial at the Old Bailey heard the property in Granville Avenue was the base of a "sophisticated" operation to cultivate more than 200 cannabis plants.

Smith and Sebran climbed up a ladder and through a bathroom window, only to find the house occupied by the brothers, who confronted them.

After attacking the Gecis, the defendants fled through a window and went to ground.

'Not in public interest'

After his arrest, Smith, of Firwood Lane, Romford, admitted going to burgle the premises and claimed he had come under attack.

Sebran, from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, told police that someone else had gone into the house while he waited outside in his car.

However, Vilson Geci's description of one attacker's tattoos matched letters and numbers on Sebran's arms showing the names and birthdays of his two children.

Sebran told officers: "It's not like I'm coming into someone's house and nicking your TV and your video, it's cannabis. They shouldn't be doing it in the first place so I ain't got no morals about taking it."

But prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC told jurors: "All the same, those men were not acting in the public interest. Instead they were in it for money".

They were also each given a six-year term for wounding and a three-year term for burglary to run concurrently with the life sentences.

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