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		</div><p>A father nicknamed The Magician is facing life behind bars for murdering a teenager and hiding his body in his attic for eight months.</p>
<p>Gary Hopkins, 37, hacked 17-year-old Abdi Ali to death at the home he shared with his partner and their three children in Enfield, north London.</p>
<p>Abdi, a drug dealer linked to the Get Money Gang (GMG), was hit over the head with a claw hammer and repeatedly stabbed with a 16cm knife on December 21 2017.</p>
<p>Window cleaner Hopkins then bundled the 5ft 2in teenager in a duvet cover and hid him in the attic with the murder weapons.</p>
<p>Following an Old Bailey trial, a jury found Hopkins guilty of murder after 16 hours of deliberations.</p>
<p>Hopkins had admitted perverting the course of justice and preventing the lawful burial of a body.</p>
<p>The jury cleared his partner Stacy Docherty, 28, of murder but was unable to reach verdicts on the two other charges.</p>
<p>Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC discharged jurors and adjourned sentencing of Hopkins until April 26.</p>
<p>The court heard how Hopkins took about £400 from the victim to give his own family a good Christmas and took them to Leominster, in Herefordshire, to lay low.</p>
<p>Despite Abdi, known as Skeng, being reported missing by his family, his body lay undiscovered for eight months.</p>
<p>When it was finally found, the body was badly decomposed and infested with insects, Gareth Patterson QC said.</p>
<p>The prosecutor told how Hopkins let slip what had happened to friends who visited the flat last August.</p>
<p>Hopkins, who was known for performing magic tricks, had threatened to kill another drug dealer saying: <em>“I’ve done it before. He’s in the loft.”</em></p>
<p>Docherty wept as Hopkins got a ladder and encouraged the friends to look for themselves, jurors heard.</p>
<p>When police searched the roof space, they found Abdi’s body wrapped in a black and red duvet cover with plastic bags over his head.</p>
<p>Giving evidence, Hopkins blamed a senior member of the GMG called Gaille Bola for the killing.</p>
<p>By the time Mr Ali was found, Bola had been found guilty of the manslaughter of 18-year-old drug dealer Meschak Dos Santos, jurors heard.</p>
<p>Hopkins, who was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking in 1999, told jurors he feared he would be blamed.</p>
<p>He told jurors: <em>“I was scared my kids would wake up and see the body, so I wrapped it up and put it in the attic.</em></p>
<p><em>“I was trying to investigate what the reason was behind it.”</em></p>
<p>But in her evidence, Docherty said her “controlling” and “aggressive” partner had killed “respectful” Abdi, who used their flat to sell drugs.</p>
<p>Docherty, whose previous convictions include assault and criminal damage, said she “froze” and was “petrified” when Hopkins told her he “lost it” and they had to leave.</p>
<p>She said: <em>“He had blood on him. I didn’t want to look. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.</em></p>
<p><em>“I was in shock. I was thinking ‘oh my God, my children are in the next room’.”</em></p>
<p>Explaining why she helped Hopkins push the body into the loft, Docherty said: <em>“He could have hurt me. He had just killed someone. He’s a loose cannon.”</em></p>
<p>The prosecution was given seven days to decide on whether to seek a retrial for Docherty.</p>
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