An undercover TV researcher who worked on Channel 4’s Dispatches went on the run for 16 years after torturing a father-of-two drug dealer to death in front of his children at a cannabis farm, a court heard today.
Christopher Guest More Jr, 43, is charged with murdering Brian Waters, 44, at a Cheshire farmhouse over a drugs debt on June 19, 2003, the court heard.
A jury at Chester Crown Court today heard Mr Waters was killed in a disused cow shed at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford, and another man, Suleman Razak, was tortured at the same time.
Mr Waters’ son Gavin, then 25, and daughter Natalie, who turned 21 the day before her father’s death, were also at the farm, the court was told.
His wife Julie, then 42, was abducted from their family home in Nantwich and taken to the cannabis farm, the court was told.
Prosecuting, Nigel Power QC said three men – John Wilson, James Raven and Otis Matthews – were convicted of Mr Waters’ murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to him and to Mr Razak following trials between 2004 and 2007.
He said: ‘This defendant, Christopher Guest More Jr, the man you are to try, fled the country on June 21, 2003 and for 16 years evaded capture until 2019, when he was discovered living a new life under an assumed name in Malta.’
Christopher Guest More Jr (left) is charged with murdering Brian Waters (right), who was tortured and killed at a Cheshire farmhouse over a drugs debt, the court heard
Christopher Guest More Jr fled the UK after the murder of Brian Waters, who was killed in front of his two adult children at Burnt House Farm (pictured) in Tabley, in June 2003
Christopher Guest More Jr arriving at Chester Crown Court under high security
The jury was told More, who was 25 at the time and living in Lymm, had been involved in undercover work for television programmes, often working with Raven, his cousin.
In 2002, More and Raven were asked to locate a cannabis farm for covert filming by a production company working for Channel 4 show Dispatches, which was filming a programme about the reclassification of the drug, the court heard.
Mr Power said: ‘But, although they said that they had located an illegal grow, what is sometimes called a cannabis farm, this avenue was not pursued and the programme was transmitted without any work from Mr More or Mr Raven.’
The court heard Mr Waters had set up a cannabis farm with his friend Mujahid Majid, known as Johnny, in June 2002.
Mr Power said: ‘The farm was set up at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, that area where ultimately he was to be murdered.’
The jury was told Mr Waters also had a cannabis farm in Holland, where he would regularly travel and broker deals for other people, including drug dealer Wilson, now 71.
Mr Power said Mr Waters owed money to Wilson and at one point had to work to pay off £20,000 which was confiscated from him as he travelled back from Holland.
‘When we come to tell you about about drug dealing shortly, you will hear that John Wilson was a drug dealer and provided this defendant with cocaine from time to time,’ Mr Power said.
More denies the murder of Mr Waters and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Waters and Mr Razak.
More became one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives before he was arrested in Malta after 16 years on the run.
Brian Waters was tortured to death in front of his family at the farmhouse
Police at the scene of the crime in 2003. The murder of Mr Waters was planned to exact revenge on him for the debt and took place in what was described as a ‘makeshift torture chamber’