A former cage-fighter has been jailed for life for gunning down twogangland enforcers linked to an IRA drugs gang.Drugs mule Thomas Haigh, 26, must serve a minimum of 35 years forblasting David Griffiths and Brett Flournoy to death on a remote Cornishfarm because they were demanding he go to Brazil for a second time andbring back cocaine.Ross Stone, 28, who was cleared of the men's murders, will serve fiveyears after admitting burning the men's bodies before burying them intheir van following the shooting at his home, Sunny Corner Farm, inTrenance Downs near St Austell.The bodies of Flournoy, a 31-year-old boxer and pub landlord with twochildren, from Bebington on the Wirral in Merseyside, andfather-of-three Griffiths, 35, from Bracknell, Berkshire, were unearthedafter Stone confessed to having disposed of their corpses.Both he and Haigh owed the dead men around GBP40,000 in drug debts.Passing sentence at Truro Crown Court, Mr Justice Mackay told Haigh hewas an "arrogant young man" who had got out of his depth in the criminalunderworld."These were bad men but they were bad men with the right not to bekilled because trading in drugs does not carry the death penalty," hesaid."You were attracted to the gangster way of life, you convinced yourselfyou were a big boy playing in the big league."But I found your erratic behaviour made you unsuited to this elusivetrade."This was no more than a result of your chosen lifestyle. You knew therules of the criminal club you joined and you broke them."Haigh and Stone's four-week trial heard that the victims were ganglandenforcers working for an IRA gang which "ran" Liverpool's illegal drugstrade.The jury took less than three hours to find Haigh, formerly ofHuddersfield, West Yorkshire, guilty of two counts of murder.Stone had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of obstructing acoroner.Read
