ID conman guilty of killing frail author

A CHINESE-BORN conman was today convicted of murdering a prize-winning author to steal his wealth.

Wang Yam, 46, battered frail, reclusive Allan Chappelow to death in his £2.5 million Hampstead home in order to steal his identity.

Much of the Old Bailey trial was held behind closed doors. It is thought to be the first murder trial held in secret because of national security.

In open sessions the jury was told that Mr Chappelow, 86, an expert on playwright George Bernard Shaw, was tortured and beaten so badly the room was covered with blood.

Yam left him buried under piles of paper in his dilapidated Georgian home on Downshire Hill. Then the killer attempted to seize £56,000 from Mr Chappelow's bank accounts using a "facility takeover" system to impersonate the dead man over the phone and internet. Once the body was discovered Yam fled to Brussels before being extradited from Switzerland.

He was found guilty today of murder, burglary and dishonesty charges committed in 2006. He will be sentenced on Monday. At an earlier trial Yam had been convicted of attempting to obtain a £20,000 money transfer by claiming to be Mr Chappelow.

Yam said he had been a pro-democracy organiser in Beijing and escaped to Hong Kong. He was accepted as an asylum seeker and became a naturalised Briton in 1998. By 2005 he owed £100,000 and preyed on fellow immigrants, persuading them to lend him money to invest in property.