A thief who killed a 'hard -working' Amazon Delivery driver who tried to stop his van was imprisoned for life.
Claudiu-Carol Kondor, 42, hung on the van when 'cruel' and 'Callous' Mark Ross, who was climbed while a package was delivered, deliberately crashed in a stationary Mini to beat him out of the vehicle on August 20 last year.
'Career Criminal' Ross, 32, raised speeds of almost 60 km / h in residential streets and waved erratic back and forth before he hit two parked cars, all in an attempt to 'lose' the Lord Kondor while he was clinging to the van of the open passenger door, jury members heard.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the Lord Kondor died of head and breast injuries in the second crash.
On Friday, Ross was imprisoned for a minimum duration of 30 years after he was found by a jury guilty of murder with a majority of 10 to 1 earlier in the week.
Ross was guilty of manslaughter, but denied the murder of the Lord Kondor and claimed that he was not aware of him on the van and that speed bumps had ensured that he had lost control of the vehicle.
Determined in order not to let Ross steal his livelihood, the Lord Kondor clung for half a mile to the vehicle while the suspicious speeds reached 60 km / h and swung from left to right before he hit two parked cars, all in an attempt to beat him out of the van.
Images released by the West Yorkshire police shows the moment that Ross drives through residential streets, where Mr Kondor clings to the passenger door
Mark Ross (photo), 32, has been imprisoned for 30 years for the murder of Amazon Delivery driver Claudiu-Carol Kondor
This is the moment when Ross (photo) smokes calmly while it is told that he is being arrested on suspicion of murder
Amazon Delivery Driver Claudiu-Carol Kondor (photo), 42, died after being hurled out of his van while trying to prevent it from being stolen, a court heard
Spooky images of the passenger side shows the Lord Kondor who clings to his van while it is stolen
The destroyed fiancé of the Lord Kondor said he had dreamed of owning his own van and bought it only three weeks before he was murdered.
Mariana Gheorghe told the court that she was “forced to return to Romania with a broken heart” after his death and described the Lord Kondor as a “man of integrity and hard work.”
She shared details about the upbringing of the Lord Kondor in her victim impact statement, which showed that he had a difficult education in Romania and at the age of 19 to Italy, did different jobs and worked as a volunteer to help victims of earthquakes in 2009.
Mrs. Gheorghe said that her fiancé came to England in 2019 and worked as a delivery person and guard, realizing his dream to possess his own van in July 2024.
Of all his jobs, he liked the most to deliver the most. He enjoyed meeting people, delivering packages on time and correctly, “she said.
“When he finished work every day, he was happy to say that he had done his best.”
Mrs. Gheorghe continued to say: 'I don't know how I will live without him, everything seems so difficult for me. I am still shocked and confused about everything that happened.
“Both me and Claudiu were the kind of people who like to work, who built up a life about dreams and honest work itself.”
Mariana Gheorghe told the court that she was 'forced to return to Romania with a broken heart' after the death of her fiancé
The scene in Leeds, West Yorkshire, after the Lord Kondor was found fighting for his life
Forensic officers on site investigating after the driver was murdered
Judge Mr Justice Goss told him on Friday: “Claudiu Carol Kondor must have been terrified in the last 45 seconds of his life while you ignored his supplications to stop and drove faster, dragged him along the road, linging mentally and physical suffering.”
Jury members heard that on 20 August last year, Mr Kondor delivered packages for Amazon in the Armley area of ​​Leeds with the help of his own silver transit bus -which was full of packages he had collected from an Amazon depot.
While he was away from his vehicle and delivered a package, Ross, who lived in the neighborhood and had assumed to buy cannabis, climbed in the driver's seat and started to drive away the van, the court heard.
Mr Kondor tried to stop him by opening the front of the van of the van and trying to climb.
The court heard that this Ross did not stop away, with the Lord Kondor hung through an open door on the moving van.
Witnesses described the legs of the Lord Kondor who dragged on the floor while clinging to the inside of the open door, with a woman who said she heard him screaming 'help'.
Public Prosecutor John Harrison KC said to jury members: “After the fast driving and swering the Lord Kondor had not lost, the suspect deliberately collided with two parked cars.”
He said that Ross turned the steering wheel to a black car that was parked on the side of the road, and when the Lord Kondor did not hit the van, “he tried again.”
CCTV images played in court, the Lord Kondor left the moving van through an open door while Ross drove past Wingate Road.
In his last speech, Mr. Harrison said that Ross (photo) showed a 'full contempt and even contempt' for the life of the Lord Kondor
The Ford Transit Cargo bus of Mr Kondor (photo) was stolen when he did a delivery on August 20, 2024
'The evidence suggests that the Lord Kondor was trying to stop him by opening the front of the passenger door of the van and trying to climb in.
“Unfortunately, his actions did not prevent the suspect from leaving, with the Lord Kondor staying on his van.”
He added: “The second collision was with a blue car that caused damage to the van, to the parked car and the most considerable, fatal head and breast injuries to the Lord Kondor,” Mr. Harrison said.
The Lord Kondor, who lived in Sheffield, was declared dead on the spot.
“It seems that the Lord Kondor did not want to or maybe his van could not let go, he didn't want the suspect to steal it,” said Mr. Harrison.
The court heard after driving away, Ross met a number of other people and the contents of the van was removed.
Ross, from Conference Road, Armley, told the jury how he was a daily cannabis user since he was a child and bought drugs and cigarette papers when he met the van without a driver.
He said, “It wasn't” until I got the van that I saw that it was unattended, and the keys were in it and the engine was running. '
Ross said, “I actually jumped in and drove off.”
His lawyer Simon Kealey KC asked him: “We are once aware of someone on the passenger side of the vehicle, on the door on the outside.”
He said, “No.”
In his last speech, Mr Harrison said that “career criminal” Ross must have realized that the Lord Kondor, who was wearing a high part, was there, but the choice made the driver “replaceable.”
Ross said he later learned about the death of the Lord Kondor via the internet.
He admitted that he had previously stolen vans, but said that he “had never been involved with something like that before,” and added: “I would have stopped the van and run away if I had known he was there.”
He received a simultaneous six -month punishment for a separate theft after stealing cashmere Jumpers from a truck.
Senior Coroner Kevin McLoughlin said last year an investigation into his death and said that the Lord Kondor “was a Romanian Lord who contributed to society.”
He added: 'He was here, he worked hard, when he thought someone was stealing his vehicle.
“He has tried to prevent the crime from taking place, but he has paid a very high price for this.”
