Gun fanatic lured stranger to isolated station then shot him in the head for the 'thrill of it'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:23 AM on 2nd July 2010

Wielding two guns and gripping a cigar between his teeth, this is the cold-blooded killer who murdered a father-of-three for fun.

Colin Cheetham, 61, executed taxi driver Stuart Ludlam at point blank range simply for the ‘thrill’ of it.

He lured Mr Ludlam, 43, to an isolated train station before firing at him through the rear windscreen, hitting him in the head and injuring him.

Cheetham – who had an unhealthy ‘fascination’ with guns – then marched his victim round to the back of the cab and forced him to kneel in the boot before shooting him in the head execution-style.

Mr Ludlam’s body was found by horrified holidaymakers who saw his lifeless arm hanging out of the car with the engine still running.

The court heard the attack was over in minutes. The victim’s family and members of the jury wept as Nottingham Crown Court heard how Cheetham had spent weeks plotting the murder.

The former gun club member compiled a photo scrapbook of four potential murder sites – all isolated railway stations – and train timetables to work out the best time and place to commit his crime.

Cheetham, who held a firearms licence, had even photographed an advert for the taxi firm he would pick his victim from.

He then bought a pay-as-you-go mobile phone to order Mr Ludlam’s cab from Cromford station, near Matlock, Derbyshire, in September last year.

Police were initially baffled by the killing but they eventually caught Cheetham after they traced the mobile phone that was used to call Mr Ludlam’s taxi.

Cheetham had paid for the phone in cash in an attempt to cover his tracks but bought a top-up card for the phone with his credit card allowing police to find him.

He maintained that he was innocent, claiming that an acquaintance had killed Mr Ludlam on September 17 last year.

But a jury found him guilty of murder and he was given life.
Sentencing him to 30 years in jail, Mr Justice Alistair MacDuff branded 27-stone Cheetham ‘evil’.

He said: ‘You decided to execute a man for your own pleasure and gratification.

‘Any man. There was no motive except your own enjoyment. How chilling that you were prepared to put to death a person you had never met.’

Peter Joyce QC, prosecuting, said: ‘He had no knowledge of Mr Ludlam but he had a fascination with taxis and a fascination with guns and Mr Ludlam was just the unlucky man with whom this fascination ended.’

He said Cheetham appeared to have no motive other than the desire to shoot a ‘complete stranger’.

Neighbours described Cheetham as a ‘loner’ and said his wife Jennifer had not been seen in 20 years.

Their house in Ripley, Derbyshire was so cluttered, they both had to live in rooms downstairs.

When police raided it they found the images of train stations and timetables as well as bottles of urine.

Cheetham took photographs of himself carrying his guns at his shooting club.

The former technical director at a dye firm testing textiles for companies such as M&S, Cheetham was forced to take early retirement because of illness.

He suffers from diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure.

Det Chief Superintendent Tony Blockley said: ‘He had almost committed the perfect murder because he had covered his tracks and there were no links back to him and no witnesses.

‘We have no idea why he did it. The only person who knows the answer is Cheetham, but it looks like it was just the thrill of killing somebody.’

Mr Ludlam had two sons Jonathan, 15, and Matthew, 12, and a two-year-old daughter Aimee with his wife Paula to whom he has been married 17 years.

After the verdict, Mr Ludlam’s mother, Sheila Ludlam, said: ‘Nothing will bring Stuart back, but it shows justice has been done.

‘He loved his children with all his heart and all he ever wanted was a little girl.

‘He got his little girl but now she has no daddy. It’s just so sad that now he won’t be able to see her grow up or get the chance to walk her down the aisle.

‘I’ve got so many memories of him and those will never leave me. Since his death it has been horrible, such a struggle for all of us.’

Cheetham, who has no previous convictions, claimed he went to the station to loan a loaded gun to a man named Geoff who wanted to teach a drug dealer a lesson.

The incident last year sent shockwaves through the whole community.

A two-minute silence was held in Matlock just over a week after Mr Ludlam’s killing and was broken only by the passionate sounding of taxi horns by the hundreds of drivers who attended.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291093/Murderer-Colin-Cheethams-chilling-photo-album.html