Murder accused guilty of deceit

A financial trader accused of murdering a wealthy reclusive author at his north London home has been found guilty of dishonesty charges.

Wang Yam, of Denning Road, Hampstead, was convicted of obtaining a £20,000 money transfer by deception and of stealing £20 from a bank machine.

The Old Bailey jury was sent home for the night and will continue considering other charges in the case on Tuesday.

Mr Yam, 46, denied murder, burglary and four dishonesty offences in 2006.

Prosecutors alleged Mr Yam killed recluse Allan Chappelow, 86, in order to steal his identity and plunder his wealth.

Financial difficulties

Mr Chappelow's badly-beaten body was found hidden under a pile of papers at his home in Downshire Hill, Hampstead, in June.

During the two-month trial jurors heard that Mr Chappelow, an expert on writer George Bernard Shaw, lived alone in the dilapidated property.

For a month after the author's body was discovered, a man was stealing his post and using information from it to access bank and credit card accounts.

Prosecutors claimed that Mr Yam murdered the writer because he was in financial difficulty.

Parts of the trial were heard in secret to protect national security.

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