Cardiff: Van thief who murdered delivery driver jailed for life
A van thief who murdered a delivery driver has been sentenced to life in prison.
Christopher El Gifari will serve a minimum term of 32 years.
A jury at Cardiff Crown Court last week found the 31-year-old guilty of murder and robbery.
On Friday, he was also sentenced to 10 years for robbery which he will serve concurrently with his life sentence for murder.
Mark Lang, 54, was fatally injured after he was dragged by his own vehicle as it was stolen.
Mr Lang had left his van on Laytonia Avenue in the city to deliver a parcel on 28 March.
The courier was fatally injured when he tried to stop El Gifari from getting away.
Handing down his sentence, Mr Justice Griffiths said El Gifari had taken “a son away from his mother” and “bereaved his partner of 23 years”.
“You deprived his two daughters of their father, a sister of her brother, and his partner’s children of their father figure,” he added.
Mr Lang was “well-known and well-liked as a driver who had for 15 years been delivering parcels to Cardiff residents,” Mr Justice Griffiths said.
“You were determined to drive over Mr Lang and get away with his van contents, come what may.”
Mark Lang
By the time the vehicle came to a stop on New Zealand Road, El Gifari had driven “a total of 743 metres since first hitting Mr Lang”.
“All that time, he was being battered and suffocated, sustaining horrible and painful injuries, as his body was dragged under the front of the van and between the front wheels,” he said.
“The pressure on his body was so great, that his hi-vis jacket ground visible yellow marks into the road.”
A passer-by spoke to El Gifari through the window and pointed to Mr Lang’s body underneath him.
“You gave no sign of being surprised Mr Lang’s body was there, or of caring about Mr Lang at all,” Mr Justice Griffiths said.
“All you wanted was to get away with what you had done. So you jumped out of the van and ran away, as fast as you could.”
Mr Justice Griffiths said El Gifari “did not care whether Mr Lang lived or died as along as [he] got away”.
The trial heard Mr Lang, from the Cyncoed area, had suffered head injuries and was taken to the University Hospital of Wales where he died on 15 April.
Prosecuting, David Elias KC, said Mr Lang had been “performing a public-facing service as a delivery driver” at the time of the incident.
The court heard a victim impact statement from Mr Lang’s partner, Caroline, who said most of his family now “cannot drive along North Road as it is too upsetting”.
She said her “whole world was turned upside down” and she had felt “a whole rollercoaster of emotions”.
“Having to relive all of this through the trial has been really difficult,” she added.
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In mitigation, Mark Graffius KC, said El Gifari had used the van “to escape, without premeditation and without an intention to kill”.
The court heard he “broke his leg very badly in 2022”, was “laid off work” and his relationship broke down.
“A succession of truly unfortunate incidents have led him to the point where he’s homeless with little or no income,” Mr Graffius said.
The offence was described by the mitigating lawyer as “opportunistic”. He said El Gifari had seen a “chance to sell the contents of the van for money”.
UK drivers are “confused” by the country’s electric car transition, ministers are being warned.
Although most drivers are not hostile towards electric vehicles (EVs), many are confused about what changes are coming and when, according to new research from the AA.
In a survey of more than 14,000 AA members, 7% thought the government was banning the sale of used petrol and diesel cars.
Around a third thought manual EVs exist, despite them all being automatic.
More than one in five said they would never buy an EV.
The government’s plan for increasing the number of electric vehicles being driven in the UK focuses heavily on increasing the supply of the vehicles.
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What you can do to reach net zero
In 2024, at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK had to be zero-emission, which generally means pure electric.
Each year, those percentages will rise, reaching 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans in 2030.
Manufacturers will face fines of £15,000 per vehicle if electric vehicle sales fall short of 28% of total production this year.
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By 2035, all new cars and vans will be required to be fully zero emission, according to the Department for Transport.
Second-hand diesel and petrol cars will still be allowed to be sold after this date, and their fuel will still be available.
There are more EVs – but will people buy them?
In February, 25% of new cars were powered purely by battery and in January, they made up 21% of all new cars registered in the UK.
But despite the growth of electric sales, manufacturers continue to warn that the market will not support the growth required to hit government EV targets, and called for consumer incentives and the extension of tax breaks.
The AA suggested the government’s plan focuses on “supply but does little to encourage demand for EVs”.
It called on ministers to co-ordinate a public awareness campaign alongside the motoring industry which directly targets drivers who doubt the viability of EVs.
“Our message to government is more needs to be done to make EVs accessible for everyone,” said Jakob Pfaudler, AA chief executive.
Which? head of consumer rights Sue Davis said: “When it comes to making sustainable choices such as switching to an electric car, our research shows that people are often held back by high costs, complex choices or uncertainty.
“The government needs to provide the right information on electric vehicles and other sustainable choices so that people have the confidence to switch.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We’re investing over £2.3bn to help industry and consumers make a supported switch to EVs.
“This includes installing a public charge point every 28 minutes, keeping EV incentives in the company car tax regime to 2030, and extending 100% first-year allowances for zero-emission cars for another year.
“Second-hand EVs are also becoming cheaper than ever, with one in three available under £20,000 and 21 brand new models available for less than £30,000.
“We’re seeing growing consumer confidence as a result.”
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