Thief who murdered Amazon driver while stealing van jailed for at least 30 years

A thief who murdered a “hard working” Amazon delivery driver who was trying to stop him stealing his van has been jailed for life.

Claudiu Carol Kondor, 42, was delivering parcels in Leeds last year when “career criminal” Mark Ross, 32, climbed into his van and started to drive away, a court heard.

Determined not to let Ross steal his livelihood, Mr Kondor clung onto the vehicle for half-a-mile as the defendant hit speeds of up to 60mph and swerved from side to side before hitting two parked cars, all in an effort to knock him from the van.

Mr Kondor died from head and chest injuries from the second crash, the court heard.

On Friday, Ross was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for a minimum term of 30 years.

Mr Kondor’s devastated fiancee said he had dreamed of owning his own van and bought it just three weeks before he was killed.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mariana Gheorghe, who said she had been “forced to return to Romania with a broken heart” after his death, described Mr Kondor as a “man of integrity and hard work”.

She said he had a difficult upbringing in Romania and moved to Italy at the age of 19, doing various jobs and working as a volunteer to help earthquake victims in 2009.

Ms Gheorghe said Mr Kondor came to England in 2019 and worked as a delivery driver and security guard, realising his dream of owning his own van in July 2024.

Her statement said: “Of all his jobs he liked delivering the most. He enjoyed meeting people, delivering parcels on time and correctly.

“When he finished work each day he was happy to say he had done his best.”

Ms Gheorghe went on to say: “I don’t know how I will live without him, everything seems so difficult to me. I’m still shocked and confused about everything that happened.

“Both me and Claudiu were the kind of people who like to work, who built a life on dreams and honest work on their own.”

Ross had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murdering Mr Kondor, claiming he was unaware of him hanging onto the van and that speed bumps had caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

On Wednesday, a jury of 11 found him guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to one.

Sentencing him on Friday, judge Mr Justice Goss said: “Claudiu Carol Kondor must have been terrified in the last 45 seconds of his life as you ignored his pleas to stop and drove faster, dragging him along the road, causing him mental and physical suffering.”

Jurors heard Mr Kondor was delivering parcels for Amazon in the Armley area of Leeds on August 20 last year using his own silver Transit van – which was full of parcels he had collected from an Amazon depot.

While he was away from his vehicle delivering a parcel, Ross, who lived nearby and had gone out to buy cannabis, climbed into the driver’s seat and started to drive the van away, the court heard.

Mr Kondor tried to stop him by opening the front nearside passenger door of the van and attempting to climb in.

The court heard this did not stop Ross driving away, with Mr Kondor hanging onto the moving van through an open door.

Witnesses described Mr Kondor’s legs dragging on the ground as he clung onto the inside of the open door, with one woman saying she heard him shouting “Help”.

Prosecutor John Harrison KC told jurors: “After speeding and swerving failed to get rid of Mr Kondor, the defendant deliberately drove into collision with two parked cars.”

He said Ross turned the steering wheel towards a black car parked on the side of the road, and when that did not knock Mr Kondor free from the van, he “tried again”.

“The second collision was with a blue car which caused damage to the van, to the parked car and most significantly, caused fatal head and chest injuries to Mr Kondor,” Mr Harrison said.

Mr Kondor, who lived in Sheffield, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The court heard after driving away, Ross met up with some other people and the contents of the van were removed.

In his closing speech, Mr Harrison said “career criminal” Ross must have realised Mr Kondor, who was wearing a high-viz jacket, was there, but made the choice that the driver was “expendable”.

Ross, of Conference Road, Armley, told the jury he had been involved in stealing vans previously, but said he had “never been involved in anything like this before”, adding “I would have stopped the van and run off if I had known he was there”.

He was given a concurrent sentence of six months for a separate offence of theft after stealing cashmere jumpers from a lorry.