Curiouser And Curiouser....

Wang Yam, 47, was found guilty of killing 86-year-old Allan Chappelow after a trial that was held in secret to protect national security.

Eh...?

Yam, a serial fraudster, battered Chappelow to death sometime in May 2006 after entering his dilapidated £4.1 million home in Hampstead, north London, to steal his identity.

Utterly appalling crime, but if NuLab start restricting reporting rights on every case of a UK resident brutally murdered by a foreigner they are going to have their work cut out for them...

The conviction followed a previous trial last year in which the jury failed to reach a verdict.

The defence for the second trial was heard 'in camera' rather than a public court. A court order was made banning all speculation about what was heard in camera. It is thought to be the first time a murder trial has been held under such circumstances.

And the reason for this...?

Yam claimed he fled China for Hong Kong following threats after the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He said he sought asylum in Britain in 1992 after criticising the Chinese government on the internet. His other defence evidence was held in closed session, as were other parts of the trial and some prosecution witness evidence.

Ahhhh, it's all becoming clearer now!

Another success for NuLab's 'let's give just anyone who asks' asylum system...

Update: The 'Times' reports that he was an informant for MI6:

Before the order was granted it was reported that Yam was a “low-level informant” for the intelligence services and that “part of his defence rested on his activities in that role”.

Kind of hard to imagine how, but still...

When he arrived in Britain he was granted asylum and continued his involvement with the democracy campaign. At the same time he spent years tricking members of the Chinese community in Britain out of money with fake mortgage and insurance deals. He used numerous aliases to register internet domain addresses, some of which were used to carry out frauds.

All under the noses of his MI6 handlers...?

His defence also claimed that there were many possible suspects for the murder, including Mossad agents, the Chinese triads, a young man that Mr Chappelow had befriended on Hampstead Heath or his gardener’s young Brazilian assistant.

I guess the jury didn't believe him. Funny, that...