Teenager Darronte Dill was today found guilty of murdering two homeless men in St. David’s.

The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict just after 3.30 p.m at Supreme Court after more than five hours of deliberations.

Prosecutors believe Dill, 19, had an accomplice when he stabbed and stoned Maxwell Brangman, 57, and Frederick Gilbert, 53, to death as they slept in a shed in St. David’s early on September 21, 2008.

During the investigation, Dill, of Fentons Drive, Pembroke, was caught on tape admitting to the killings on two separate occasions. The first was in a conversation with fellow suspect Roger Lightbourne Sr. in the Police cells after they’d both been arrested. Undercover detectives were hiding nearby.

The conversation was initiated by Mr. Lightbourne Sr, 42, from St. David’s, who had offered to set up the sting operation after protesting his innocence and saying Dill was the true culprit.

Dill was staying at the Lightbourne residence at the time of the crime, and was friends with Mr. Lightbourne’s son, Roger Jr, 19. During the cell confession, Dill said he and Roger Jr. — nicknamed Mister — carried out the killings while Mr. Lightbourne Sr. — nicknamed Mad Max — was asleep.

The Police interviewed Dill on tape the following day and told him they knew about his cell confession. He then repeated it to them but refused to name his accomplice. He said he committed the crime because he was feeling “mad” and “I wanted to know what it was like to take a life”.

Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was originally charged too — with killing Maxwell Brangman. He spent almost four months on remand in prison until the charge against him was dropped, after Police came to the conclusion that a witness who claimed to have seen him at the crime scene had lied.

Dill was therefore the only defendant who went on trial. He protested his innocence throughout the case. When he took the witness stand to give evidence last week, Dill claimed Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was the true culprit and had confessed to him that he carried out the crime.

He claimed he made the “false” admissions about being the culprit himself because Mr. Lightbourne Sr. told him to take the rap and he was scared of him.

However, in his closing speech to the jury on Monday, Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field urged the jury to accept the original admissions of guilt made by Dill and reject the idea he was taking the rap.

He pointed out that forensic tests showed Mr. Brangman’s blood was on Dill’s cell phone. Dill told the Police he’d used his phone to video Mr. Brangman’s body burning after he set the hut on fire.

Mr. Field also pointed out that details that Dill gave the Police — such as stabbing Mr. Gilbert 12 times and using a history book to set fire to Mr. Brangman’s body — matched the crime scene.

Dill faced allegations during the trial that he — along with the Lightbournes — is a member of the Parkside gang. He denied being a gang member. However, Mr. Field pointed out that Dill was described to Police as a “foot soldier” by Mr. Lightbourne Sr., who described himself as “the general”.

Mr. Lightbourne Sr. allegedly told detectives that as such, Dill “had to kill to prove himself, in order to be accepted”.

Suggesting that Dill may have carried out the double murder to prove himself among the criminal fraternity, Mr. Field told the jury on Monday: “Now, I’m not suggesting that in order to be considered more senior, or to prove yourself among the criminals in this society, that it’s necessary to actually kill somebody. At least I certainly hope not.

“But we do know there are societies in the world where people have to do terrible things to prove themselves. Maybe he didn’t have to kill, but it doesn’t seem beyond logic that it was a good thing to prove himself to be a hard guy — to prove himself in the criminal fraternity — to do such an act.”

l See tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette for the full story and background to the case.