APster: Who do you want to kill today?

[Matthew X]

A British millionaire property magnate with a reputation as the Britain's 
most vicious landlord has been found guilty of hiring the hitmen who killed 
a former business associate.
A jury at the Old Bailey Court on Monday cleared Nicholas van Hoogstraten 
of murder but convicted him of manslaughter, deciding that he had only 
sought to harm and intimidate Mohammed Raja, a retired businessman who was 
taking him to court for alleged fraud.
Mr Raja was stabbed five times before being shot in the head by Robert 
Knapp, a man van Hoogstraten used to "dissuade" people who upset him, and 
an accomplice, David Croke. Both hitmen were sentenced last week to life 
imprisonment for the murder.
Justice Newman said at the Old Bailey that he wanted the defendant assessed 
by a psychiatrist before sentencing him. Van Hoog-straten, 57, built up a 
£59.5 million ($A171 million) fortune through property deals. His lawyer 
said he would appeal.
Outside court, Mr Raja's family embraced detectives after the jury's 
majority verdict of 11 to one.
Van Hoogstraten undermined his own case by repeatedly interrupting his own 
defence counsel. He told the court how he would "send in the dogs" to evict 
"low-life" tenants.
- Guardian