Robin Ligus committed second Shropshire murder

A convicted Shropshire killer was today found responsible for the killing of a second county man.

Robin Stanislaw Ligus, 59, formerly of Shrewsbury, murdered Trevor Bradley whose body was found in a burnt-out car in Melverley, near Oswestry, in April 1994.

The jurors at Birmingham Crown Court, who returned their unanimous verdict after deliberating for more than 14 hours, are still considering two other counts of murder against Ligus, who was judged mentally unfit to plead to the charges.

Because of the 59-year-old's mental state, jurors have been instructed to rule on whether the father-of-three did the acts alleged against him, rather than being required to return verdicts of guilty or not guilty.

Before the jurors retired to consider the remaining counts, which relate to the deaths of Brian Coles and Bernard Czyzewska in Shropshire in October and November 1994, they were told that majority verdicts would now be acceptable to the court.

Ligus, a father-of-three, is already serving a life sentence for murdering pensioner Robert Young during a burglary in the same year.

The court previously heard that Ligus lured Mr Bradley to remote farmland in Melverley and then hit him over the head with an iron bar before putting his body into a car and setting it alight.

In confessions made to police in 2000, Ligus said he took £2,000 from Mr Bradley's pocket after hitting him over the head.

He said he went to Liverpool shortly afterwards and used the cash to buy drugs to fund his heroin and cocaine addiction.

The remains of Mr Bradley's body were discovered on April 26, 1994.

He was found lying behind the front seats of his Vauxhall Nova car but his remains were so badly damaged they had to be identified through X-ray.

Mr Bradley was a well-known antiques dealer from Ludlow and his death has been the source of on-going police investigations for 17 years.

The day before his death, the 53-year-old told his brother he would be back in two minutes for a cup of tea. He was found dead less than 24 hours later.

The last reported sighting of Mr Bradley was outside toilets in Leominster after he had visited the town bingo hall.

Mr Bradley's body was exhumed in 2009 as part of a cold case review after pathologists discovered he was likely to have suffered a broken collar bone and fractured skull before the fire.

Ligus, heavily bearded and tattooed, remained emotionless as he listened to the jury's verdict via videolink from maximum security Woodhill Prison, in Buckinghamshire.

In October 1994 Mr Coles was found dead in his home, near Whitchurch, while in November Mr Czyzewska's body was found in the River Severn.

The trial continues.