Priest pair ‘paid for hit on selves’

Two Catholic priests in Colombia hired hitmen to kill them after one of them was diagnosed with Aids.

The prosecutor’s office said that Rafael Reatiga and Richard Piffano paid 15 million pesos (about £5,300) for the hit. They were found shot dead in January 2011 in a car in southern Bogota.

A spokeswoman said the priests had planned to commit suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff but couldn’t bring themselves to jump.

She said medical tests showed 36-year-old Mr Reatiga had Aids.

Two of the four assassins have been arrested and appeared in Bogota yesterday for a hearing.