Christopher El Gifari guilty of murdering North Road courier

A man has been found guilty of murdering a 54-year-old delivery driver after hitting him with his own van.

Mark Lang died in April, 18 days after being dragged half a mile along North Road, one of Cardiff's busiest roads.

Christopher El Gifari, 31, of Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, denied murder but admitted taking the van and causing Mr Lang's death.

He was found guilty of murder and robbery after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

El Gifari was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced next Friday, 1 December.

Following the verdict Mr Lang's family thanked everyone for their help and support.

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"The last few months have been traumatic for us as a family after Mark's brutal, and ultimately pointless killing," they said in a statement.

"We now have to struggle to face life without him and his partner faces life alone.

"His daughters won't have their dad to walk them down the aisle and his grandchildren will never know their grandad.

"We will have to live through the memories we know he would have treasured if he were there with us."

The court had heard how Mark Lang was delivering a parcel on Laytonia Avenue on 28 March, when El Gifari, who had just been turned away from a nearby corner shop because he could not afford cigarettes, saw the van and jumped in.

He drove off at speed down Laytonia Avenue, but found the road was a dead end and had to turn around.

Mark Lang was previously described as "a good man with a lot of love to give" by his partner

Mr Lang had chased him and was standing in the middle of the road, wearing a hi-vis jacket and holding his hand out to make him stop.

El Gifari, who was driving at around 18mph (28km/h), touched his brake for a fraction of a second before ploughing into him.

He told police he was trying to frighten Mr Lang and thought he would move out of the way.

Mr Lang was knocked over and fell underneath the van's wheels where he remained as it turned onto North Road.

El Gifari continued to drive towards Cardiff city centre, setting off a speed camera near St Mark's Church which recorded the speed as 47mph (75km per hour).

Mr Lang was dragged along the road underneath the vehicle and sustained multiple injuries to his head and body.

The van came to a stop at the junction with New Zealand Road, outside Cathays High School, by which point Mr Lang had been trapped for a distance of 740 metres.

Christopher El Gifari pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Cardiff Crown Court

El Gifari got out and began walking up New Zealand Road, and when a passer-by asked him "what do you think you are doing?", he began to run away from the scene.

Seren Williams, who works at Cathays High School, gave evidence at the trial and described feeling "helpless" seeing Mr Lang trapped under his own stolen van.

"We wanted to move the van, but couldn't as we didn't want to cause more injury," Ms Williams said.

She added that a colleague held Mr Lang's hand "to let him know someone was there".

El Gifari was arrested at his parents' house and officers' bodycam footage showed that when he was cautioned by police, he said: "I don't know what I've done, I've done nothing."

He told officers that he did not mean to hit Mr Lang and he thought he would move out of the way.

In his closing speech, defence barrister Mark Graffius told the court the killing was "unplanned" and that there was no evidence that El Gifari meant to kill or seriously hurt Mr Lang.

Senior Investigating Officer, Det Insp Rebecca Merchant of South Wales Police, thanked all those who had worked on the case.

"I am also grateful to the Gabalfa community for their support during the investigation, in particular by providing CCTV which has been crucial," she added.

Additional reporting by Rachel Broome