Fife man who arranged brother’s murder loses appeal

A BUSINESSMAN who arranged the contract murder of his brother has lost an appeal against a minimum 25-year jail term.

Mo Siddique, 43, lost his appeal at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh. The man hired by Siddique to carry out the killing, 29-year-old Tencho Andonov won a two-year cut in his sentence, from 29 years to 27 years. The go-between in the deal, Deyan Nikolov, 28, was told that he would serve at least 23 years in jail, an increase in five years from his original sentence.

Siddique, of Auchtertool, Fife, and his brother, Toby Siddique, 38, had clashed over control of their lucrative flat rental business in Fife.

Nikolov, a Bulgarian living in Kirkcaldy, Fife, was Siddique’s “right hand man”, a trial heard, and he knew Andonov, also a Bulgarian and staying in Livingston, West Lothian.

Andonov was hired for £18,000 and it was arranged that he should go to a flat in Glenrothes in October 2010 to meet Toby Siddique, pretending to have cheap cigarettes to sell.

In the flat, Andonov shot Toby Siddique repeatedly in the head. He also fired at a second man, who survived.

All three accused were found guilty of murdering Toby Siddique and given life sentences with their respective minimum terms.

Andonov was also convicted of attempting to murder the other man in the flat.

Lawyers for Mo Siddique argued that his 25-year term was excessive and put him in the same league as gangland killers, but the judges, Lord Clarke, Lady Smith and Lord Philip, said Siddique had been the “driving force” behind the murder and had been described as a very manipulative and domineering person.

“He was content to order the assassination of his own brother. This type of contract killing, where the accused was instrumental in setting up the circumstances whereby its execution was carried out, is conduct of which this court must take a very serious view, and we are completely satisfied that...the punishment part of 25 years...was not excessive,” said Lord Clarke.