Leeds van thief guilty of murdering Amazon delivery driver after smashing him into parked car

Mark Ross was convicted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court following a six-day trial.

The 32-year-old stole the van with its owner, Claudiu-Carol Kondor, hanging onto the passenger door and his feet scraping along the road.

Ross reached speeds up to 60mph before purposely clipping the passenger side of the Ford Transit against a parked car to “get rid” of Mr Kondor. He suffered fatal head and chest wounds as a result, with Ross then driving away.

He previously admitted a charge of manslaughter, but maintained he did not see Mr Kondor desperately clinging onto the open door, or hear him screaming for help.

His story was not believed by the jury, who returned a majority verdict after deliberating for just short of seven hours.

The judge, Mr Justice James Goss, adjourned sentencing until Friday, March 14.

Ross, of Conference Road, Armley, faces a mandatory life sentence but the judge will decide the minimum sentence he must serve behind bars.

He was remanded back into custody until his sentence.

Self-confessed cannabis addict Ross had told the jury that he was in around £4,000 of debt with dealers when he stole the van on the evening of August 20 last year.

He had seen the Amazon delivery van parked up with the door open and keys in the ignition with the engine running.

In an opportunist move, he then jumped into the driver’s seat and started driving off.

Mr Kondor, a 42-year-old from Sheffield, had been to deliver a parcel and noticed the van making off, so tried to open the passenger-side door to stop the thief.

Shocking CCTV footage was played to the court that showed Mr Kondor, wearing a high-vis vest, clinging to the open passenger-side door as Ross hit 60mph in a 20mph zone.

Eventually colliding with a parked car on Heights Drive in Wortley, Mr Kondor was left stricken in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Ross later claimed speed bumps in the road had caused him to swerve, along with parcels that had fallen into the driver’s side footwell.

But the Crown said Ross purposely drove erratically to “get rid of his unwanted passenger”.

Prosecutor John Harrison KC told the jury that it “must have been obvious” that Mr Kondor was there.

Ross continued and later parked up the vehicle where he and associates unloaded the van of its parcels so they could sell them for drugs.