- ITV Report
Life sentence for Riley Workman murder
Christopher Docherty-Puncheon has been found guilty of the murder of Colonel Robert 'Riley' Workman and sentenced to life in prison. It is the second life sentence he's received, after being found guilty of the murder of Fred Moss at Northampton crown court in 2006. At St Albans crown court today Mr Justice Saunders told Docherty-Puncheon:
The attack happened on the doorstep of the retired army colonel's cottege in Furneux Pelham, Herts in 2004.
A former village rat catcher, Docherty-Puncheon, showed no emotion as the jury of six men and six women delivered its verdict. The five week trial at St Albans crown court had heard how the weeks and months that followed the killing were like something out of the TV drama Midsomer Murders. Colonel Workman's body was found by his carer the morning after he was shot with a sawn off shotgun. That weapon has never been found.
Along with the whereabouts of the weapon, Police are still unclear about Docherty-Puncheon's motive for killing the army veteran. His confession to a cellmate that he was hired as a hitman is thought to have been "bravado".
Docherty-Puncheon, now 33, is already serving a life sentence for the murder of 21-year-old Fred Moss. Today he was told by Mr Justice Saunders that he would have to serve a minimum period of 32 years before being considered for release, and that he may spend the rest of his life in prison: