Man found guilty of murdering gay lover with a fire extinguisher
A man has today been found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering his gay lover with a fire extinguisher in a hotel room.
Glenn Rycroft, a convicted conman, had beaten Gareth MacDonald, 30, to death after MacDonald became suspicious of his past.
MacDonald, a father of three, had left his wife for the man after meeting him on the internet.
Rycroft, of Flintshire, killed MacDonald on September 14th 2007. The pair were staying in a Travelodge at Heston services after getting lost while travelling to see Rycroft’s uncle and aunt.
MacDonald was found face down on the bed the following morning, wearing only his underwear. He had sustained two large cuts to the back of his head, caused by the fire extinguisher.
The prosecution alleged Rycroft had tried to cover up his crime by leaving the hotel at 7am, only to return shortly afterwards to ‘discover’ the body before running to the reception area and asking for an ambulance to be called.
Rycroft, a former British Airways steward, was previously jailed for four years after he conned friends and relatives out of more than £200,000 with an investment scam. He had also pretended to have cancer in order to raise money.
In a statement in court, the victim’s mother Susan MacDonald spoke of her grief over her son’s death.
It said: “Words cannot really explain the pain of losing your child in the circumstance that Gareth died.”
Rycroft, 33, is expected to be sentenced tomorrow (Friday). He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
