Michael Weir: Burglar guilty of 1998 double murders

A burglar who beat two elderly people to death in their own homes to steal a watch and jewellery has been convicted of their murders two decades on.

Michael Weir fatally attacked 78-year-old Leonard Harris and Rose Seferian, 83, in 1998, the Old Bailey was told.

The original investigation missed clues to the killer but DNA testing linked Weir to the London attacks after 20 years, the court heard.

Weir, 52, of Hackney, had denied two counts of murder.

Prosecutor Tom Little QC told the jury the “defenceless pensioners” had been struck repeatedly and knocked to the ground then left for dead.

Weir was originally found guilty of murdering Mr Harris by an Old Bailey jury in July 1999, but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2000.

He was retried under the so-called double jeopardy law, and prosecutors believe Weir is “the first convicted man to be convicted twice”.

Trial judge Mrs Justice McGowan told the jury they had made “legal history”.

Sentencing was adjourned until a date to be fixed.