Pair guilty of killing Birmingham model Andre Nunes

Aug 8 2008 By Ross McCarthy

TWO men have been convicted of kidnapping and killing a male model who was abducted from his Birmingham home and whose remains were discovered buried in a field.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court found Michael Weldon and Mark Price guilty of charges of murder and kidnapping and perverting the course of justice following a nine week trial.

Weldon, 55, of Warwick Road, Acocks Green and Price, 41, of Wharf Road, Kings Norton, had denied all the charges.

They also convicted Michael Oliver, 51, of Moorfields, Lilley Green Road, Alvechurch, Worcestershire, of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Andre Nunes, aged 47, was taken by a gang armed with shotguns from his home in Kingston Court, Abdon Avenue, Weoley Castle in September 2005 and killed.

His body, which had been burnt and broken up, was found almost two years later buried in a field on land owned by Oliver.

Rex Tedd QC, prosecuting, said Weldon had masterminded the kidnap and murder.

He said he had a grudge against someone who had assaulted his niece although Nunes may have been the victim of mistaken identity.

Mr Justice Foskett adjourned sentence until later today.

Mr Tedd prosecuting said: “On September 10, 2005, Weldon and others had gone to another flat in Birmingham looking for a man called Oliver Galvin who he believed had beaten up his niece.

“Weldon, he said, told the occupants of this flat he wanted to get Mr Galvin and kill him.

“One of those there told him that he knew Mr Galvin ‘to be down Abdon, Abdon Avenue’.

“The man who volunteered the information was then forced a gun-point to take Weldon and his henchmen to Abdon Avenue and point out Mr Nunes’ flat.

“He said there were no eye witnesses to what then happened but it was clear there had been a confrontation in the flat and that Mr Nunes was murdered although it was not known where and in what manner.

“He said they were left with a dead body and that Weldon got Oliver to do him a favour by allowing his land, where there was a field and paddock, to be used to dig a grave.

“A mechanical digger was used to scoop out a hole and was then piled up at the bottom before a roaring fire was started which consumed the body of Mr Nunes.”