Criminal Files: William Horncy - The Murder Of Amarjit Chohan And His Family
- 7 years ago
A gangland boss and his two accomplices were today sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murders of five members of one family, including two young boys and a grandmother.
Career criminal Kenneth Regan, 55, was last week convicted of the kidnap, false imprisonment and murder of millionaire Amarjit Chohan, 51, of Heston, west London, so he could take over his freight company and use it as a front for drug running. Regan, of Wilton, near Salisbury, and accomplice William Horncy, 52, of Bournemouth, also murdered Chohan's 25-year-old wife, Nancy, their two infant sons, 18-month-old Devinder and Ravinder, aged two months, and Nancy Chohan's mother, 51-year-old Charanjit Kaur. A third man, Peter Rees, 39, of Rowlands Castle, Hampshire, was sentenced to life for Chohan's murder. He was also convicted of assisting an offender, but cleared of the other four murder charges. Neither Regan nor Horncy - who had both sat impassively in the dock during the sentencing - showed any emotion as they were taken down. In the case of Rees, the judge imposed a minimum term of 23 years. Regan's gang wanted to take over Chohan's haulage business, Ciba Freight, and use it to smuggle drugs.
The Chohan family were kidnapped from their home, murdered and buried on a Devon estate. The murderers later dug up the bodies and dumped them at sea.
Chohan's body was found floating near Bournemouth pier in April 2003, and his wife's was recovered in the same area in July. Kaur's body was found in a bay off the Isle of Wight in November 2003. The bodies of the two boys have yet to be found.
When Chohan's body was retrieved from the sea, scientists found a piece of paper inside one of his socks. It was a letter addressed to Regan and dated February 12 2003 - the day before his disappearance.
Regan, the career criminal behind the plot, was also a supergrass. He would not have been able to kill the Chohans had he not been released early from prison after giving vital evidence which helped convict fellow gangsters.
He had a long history of drug dealing, money laundering and passport fraud, and was convicted in 1999 of heroin dealing and injuring a policewoman by running his car into her while trying to escape.
But he transformed a 20-year sentence into eight years by turning Queen's evidence against his former associates.
Regan's information resulted in the conviction of a dozen criminals and the confiscation of millions of pounds of drug money, and he was freed after three years. He muscled in on Ciba in July 2002, and eight months later the Chohans were dead.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Little, who headed the Scotland Yard investigation, said: "Kenneth Regan is the most ruthless man I ever met.
"He wiped out an entire family through sheer greed. He was utterly without a conscience, and he showed no remorse."
Regan lured Chohan to a meeting near Stonehenge, where he tortured him into signing blank sheets of paper on which he later typed letters saying the freight boss had fled the country and was handing the company over to him.
However, he realised he would have to kill the entire family to make the story credible. The gang did their utmost to cover their tracks, but a single drop of blood outside Regan's house was identified as Devinder's and the note addressed to Regan found in Mr Chohan's sock proved crucial.
Regan and Hornby were also sentenced to 12 years for a charge of false imprisonment to be served concurrently.
Judge Mitchell told them: "The misery, pain and suffering which the two of you have visited on the surviving members of Mr and Mrs Chohan's family are immeasurable - not least because of the contemptible treatment of the bodies of their relatives and not least because the bodies of those two tiny children have never been recovered."
The judge said he accepted that it had not been Rees's enterprise, and that he had not controlled the strategy or tactics. However he said his crimes we still of the "utmost gravity".
Career criminal Kenneth Regan, 55, was last week convicted of the kidnap, false imprisonment and murder of millionaire Amarjit Chohan, 51, of Heston, west London, so he could take over his freight company and use it as a front for drug running. Regan, of Wilton, near Salisbury, and accomplice William Horncy, 52, of Bournemouth, also murdered Chohan's 25-year-old wife, Nancy, their two infant sons, 18-month-old Devinder and Ravinder, aged two months, and Nancy Chohan's mother, 51-year-old Charanjit Kaur. A third man, Peter Rees, 39, of Rowlands Castle, Hampshire, was sentenced to life for Chohan's murder. He was also convicted of assisting an offender, but cleared of the other four murder charges. Neither Regan nor Horncy - who had both sat impassively in the dock during the sentencing - showed any emotion as they were taken down. In the case of Rees, the judge imposed a minimum term of 23 years. Regan's gang wanted to take over Chohan's haulage business, Ciba Freight, and use it to smuggle drugs.
The Chohan family were kidnapped from their home, murdered and buried on a Devon estate. The murderers later dug up the bodies and dumped them at sea.
Chohan's body was found floating near Bournemouth pier in April 2003, and his wife's was recovered in the same area in July. Kaur's body was found in a bay off the Isle of Wight in November 2003. The bodies of the two boys have yet to be found.
When Chohan's body was retrieved from the sea, scientists found a piece of paper inside one of his socks. It was a letter addressed to Regan and dated February 12 2003 - the day before his disappearance.
Regan, the career criminal behind the plot, was also a supergrass. He would not have been able to kill the Chohans had he not been released early from prison after giving vital evidence which helped convict fellow gangsters.
He had a long history of drug dealing, money laundering and passport fraud, and was convicted in 1999 of heroin dealing and injuring a policewoman by running his car into her while trying to escape.
But he transformed a 20-year sentence into eight years by turning Queen's evidence against his former associates.
Regan's information resulted in the conviction of a dozen criminals and the confiscation of millions of pounds of drug money, and he was freed after three years. He muscled in on Ciba in July 2002, and eight months later the Chohans were dead.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Little, who headed the Scotland Yard investigation, said: "Kenneth Regan is the most ruthless man I ever met.
"He wiped out an entire family through sheer greed. He was utterly without a conscience, and he showed no remorse."
Regan lured Chohan to a meeting near Stonehenge, where he tortured him into signing blank sheets of paper on which he later typed letters saying the freight boss had fled the country and was handing the company over to him.
However, he realised he would have to kill the entire family to make the story credible. The gang did their utmost to cover their tracks, but a single drop of blood outside Regan's house was identified as Devinder's and the note addressed to Regan found in Mr Chohan's sock proved crucial.
Regan and Hornby were also sentenced to 12 years for a charge of false imprisonment to be served concurrently.
Judge Mitchell told them: "The misery, pain and suffering which the two of you have visited on the surviving members of Mr and Mrs Chohan's family are immeasurable - not least because of the contemptible treatment of the bodies of their relatives and not least because the bodies of those two tiny children have never been recovered."
The judge said he accepted that it had not been Rees's enterprise, and that he had not controlled the strategy or tactics. However he said his crimes we still of the "utmost gravity".