Man guilty of City banker murder

Mr Monckton was killed in the attack in which his wife survived

A wealth-obsessed robber who killed a banker in front of his family during a raid on their west London home has been convicted of murder.

Damien Hanson stabbed John Monckton to death and tried to murder his wife Homeyra at their exclusive Chelsea home last year, the Old Bailey jury found.

Jurors heard Hanson, 24, of no fixed address, was obsessed with rich people.

The jury is still considering verdicts relating to Elliot White, 24, who denies murder and attempted murder.

But they were sent home for the night after sending a note to the judge saying they could make no further progress on Thursday.

Prosecutors claimed White posed as a postman to help Hanson trick his way into the high-security house on 29 November.

Wearing a balaclava and armed with a gun and a knife Hanson burst into the house, stabbing Mr Monckton in the heart and lung, and his wife twice in the back.

Mrs Monckton, 46, who still walks using a stick, told the court how Hanson then "calmly and coldly" demanded she hand over her two rings and a watch worth about £4,000.

Every householder's nightmare became a reality for the Monckton family Richard Horwell, prosecuting Jury told of past convictions

After the robbery the couple's nine-year-old daughter Isobel, who saw some of the attack, answered her mother's cries for help and phoned the police.

She described how she ran down the stairs and saw "blood all over the floor" and on the walls.

Prosecutor Richard Horwell told jurors: "Every householder's nightmare became a reality for the Monckton family.

"The house was like a fortress - heavily and obviously protected by various security systems."

Throughout the case the prosecution maintained the couple were targeted because of their wealth.

Hanson was said to be obsessed with the rich and diamonds

Copies of the Sunday Times Rich List and the Mail on Sunday's Rich Report were found by police when they searched Hanson's room at a bail hostel in Streatham, south London.

Hanson denied he was ever at the Moncktons' home - saying he was visiting his sister in Brixton, south London at the time.

But prosecutors took advantage of a change in the law which allows the jury to be told of a defendant's criminal record if it is relevant and shows their "bad character".

The Old Bailey was told Hanson had been released from jail for attempted murder and robbery, three months before the attack at the Moncktons' home.

The jury rejected his alibi and found him guilty of attempted murder by a majority of 11 to one, and convicted him unanimously of murder and robbery.

White, who was not masked, admitted robbery but said he never agreed to take part in a killing. He denies murder and attempted murder.