Drugs-feud killer dies after jail heart attack
A KILLER who planned the ambush and murder of a drug dealer, before burying his body at a remote farm has died while serving a life sentence.
Brian Matthews was jailed for his role in the killing of Andrew Green, whose body was buried in Oldham, in 2004.
He had a heart attack in HMP Frankland in County Durham and died in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle last month.
Documents from the County Durham and Darlington Coroner’s Court confirmed the 72-year-old’s death.
As the M.E.N. reported at the time, Matthews organised the brutal killing of Mr Green, 34, following a drugs feud.
He enlisted son Warren Matthews and another man, Mark Morris, to help and Mr Green, of Blackley, went missing on May 14, 2004.
Mr Green was murdered after he left a bin-bag full of drugs with Brian Matthews.
A court heard the haul went missing and Brian Matthews, who thought he was in danger from underworld figures, planned to have Mr Green killed.
Police believe Warren Matthews was the ‘executioner’ while Morris was the driver who took the victim to the scene of the murder.
Mr Green was shot at least twice in the head with a Spanish-made revolver on a dirt track near Coal Pit Lane in Hathershaw, a court heard.
His body was then bundled into the back of a car and later disposed of in a landfill site at Whitfield Dairy Farm in Shaw.
Witnesses near to Coal Pit Lane contacted police at 10.52pm on the day of the murder and reported hearing three gunshots and seeing a man being assaulted. Officers went to the scene and a cigarette with blood on it was recovered.
Forensics showed it to match the DNA of Andrew Green.
Two days later, on 16 May, 2004, police received a report that a gun had been found in long grass near the edge of the water at the Red Hill Fishing Lodge.
Forensic examination of the gun revealed a partial DNA sample matching that of Andrew Green.
Mr Green’s body was not found until nine months later, in February 2005, after the men had been charged following a huge police investigation that included accessing the phone records of the three defendants to trace their movements on May 14 and 15, 2004.
All three men were found guilty of Mr Green’s murder following a nine-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. Brian Matthews, of Birch Avenue, Limeside, was told to serve a minimum of 30 years.