Businessman's killer found hanged

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A killer who took part in the murder of a man he was sent to threaten by property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been found hanged.

David Croke, 64, from Brighton, Sussex, was found dead in his cell at HMP Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, on Tuesday.

Croke and Robert Knapp were convicted in 2002 of the murder of Mohammed Raja at his home in Sutton, south London.

Mr van Hoogstraten had a manslaughter conviction quashed, but a High Court judge later held him responsible.

Croke was serving a life sentence for the murder of Mr Raja who was stabbed five times and shot in the face in July 1999.

He was found in his prison cell with a ligature round his neck and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Mohammed Raja was suing Mr van Hoogstraten when he was killed

A prison service spokesman said: "Any death in custody is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family of Mr Croke at this time.

"The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation."

Mr van Hoogstraten was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2002 for manslaughter, but was freed on appeal just over a year later.

After a civil case in the High Court at the end of 2005, Mr Justice Lightman ruled he had recruited "two violent thugs with a shotgun", one of them David Croke.

Mr van Hoogstraten was not present nor legally represented during the civil proceedings.