News / International
Man buys crate of beer to toast cold-blooded execution of his parents
28 Mar 2013 at 20:32hrs | Views
Father-of-three Stephen Seddon, shot his father, Robert, 66, and mother, Patricia, 65, to death with a sawn-off shotgun at their home in Sale, Greater Manchester, UK, for their £230,000 inheritance.
The 46-year-old was caught on CCTV at his local supermarket buying the beer to celebrate the double murder and in the hope it would give him an alibi.
However, Seddon has been jailed for life and told he will serve at least 40 years before can be paroled after being convicted of his parents' murder.
A court was told how conman Seddon had lived the high life in the past, posing in his Bentley Turbo, jetting around the world and staying at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on one trip.
The money came from a scam and he was jailed for fraud but his thirst for money remained unquenched.
When the money ran out he plotted to kill his parents for their inheritance despite them already gifting him £40,000 in cash and buying his home in Seaham, Co Durham.
He had tried to murder them in March last year by driving into a canal with them strapped in the back seats in a faked road accident.
Seddon then "played the hero" in the aftermath of the "accident", boasting of his supposed rescue attempts after aborting the murder plan when bystanders went to their aid in the submerged car.
His parents had made him sole beneficiary of their £230,000 estate in their will - and four months later they paid with their lives when Seddon shot them both dead.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hamblen told him: "In effect you have executed your own parents.
"One can only imagine the horror of your parents' last moments in this life, when they realised what a monster their son, whom they loved, had become.
"Mercifully their deaths were swift.
"The reason for the attempted murders and the murders was greed. You needed money. You had lost your job. You had a mortgage. You had a family to support. You had some grand plans.
"Despite the fact that your parents had always been very generous in supporting you, you wanted more and you wanted it now - hence the plan to kill them and get your inheritance up front."
The 46-year-old was caught on CCTV at his local supermarket buying the beer to celebrate the double murder and in the hope it would give him an alibi.
However, Seddon has been jailed for life and told he will serve at least 40 years before can be paroled after being convicted of his parents' murder.
A court was told how conman Seddon had lived the high life in the past, posing in his Bentley Turbo, jetting around the world and staying at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on one trip.
The money came from a scam and he was jailed for fraud but his thirst for money remained unquenched.
When the money ran out he plotted to kill his parents for their inheritance despite them already gifting him £40,000 in cash and buying his home in Seaham, Co Durham.
He had tried to murder them in March last year by driving into a canal with them strapped in the back seats in a faked road accident.
His parents had made him sole beneficiary of their £230,000 estate in their will - and four months later they paid with their lives when Seddon shot them both dead.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hamblen told him: "In effect you have executed your own parents.
"One can only imagine the horror of your parents' last moments in this life, when they realised what a monster their son, whom they loved, had become.
"Mercifully their deaths were swift.
"The reason for the attempted murders and the murders was greed. You needed money. You had lost your job. You had a mortgage. You had a family to support. You had some grand plans.
"Despite the fact that your parents had always been very generous in supporting you, you wanted more and you wanted it now - hence the plan to kill them and get your inheritance up front."
Source - Mirror
