A killer who called himself
"Psycho" has been found guilty of murdering Indian student Anuj Bidve at
random on a British street, The Independent reported Thursday.
Kiaran
Stapleton walked up to stranger Anuj Bidve, 23, in the street in
Salford, Greater Manchester, and shot him in the head at point blank
range Dec 26 last year.
Stapleton, 21 had admitted manslaughter
on the grounds of diminished responsibility but a jury at Manchester
Crown Court rejected that argument and convicted him of murder.
Sentencing will take place Friday at a time to be confirmed.
Before
the verdict was announced, Stapleton, wearing a grey Adidas tracksuit,
jogged up the steps to the dock from the cells, the newspaper said.
Bidve had arrived in Britain last September to embark on postgraduate studies in micro-electronics.
His
parents, Subhash and Yogini, flew from their home in Pune, India, to
attend the trial and each day listened intently to the evidence from the
front row of the public gallery.
As the verdict was delivered,
Bidve cried and Bidve bowed in his seat and later held his hands to his
face, according to the newspaper.
Stapleton's parents, Tony and Billie-Jean, stayed away from the trial.
Four
of Stapleton's eight brothers and sisters attended most days, including
one brother who sported the same teardrop tattoo as the defendant.
Some of his siblings were in tears at the outcome.
Bidve was visiting Manchester with a group of friends from Lancaster University last Christmas.
They left their hotel in the early hours of Boxing Day to queue early for the sales when their paths crossed with Stapleton's.
He
calmly walked across the road and repeatedly asked for the time. When
someone finally answered he pulled a handgun out of his pocket and fired
one shot to Bidve's left temple.
He was then seen to smirk or
laugh over his victim's body before he ran off to his nearby home in
Ordsall. The weapon, which fired a 9mm bullet, has not been found.
Bidve never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead in hospital.
Stapleton later told a psychologist in prison that he picked out his victim because "he had the biggest head".
'Psycho' guilty of murdering Indian student Bidve
