ARMED crooks who went to steal cannabis left weapons laced with their DNA at the scene of the murder.

The six men from London had tried to steal the £54,000 worth of cannabis from Westcliff.

However, they killed a “gardener” at the cannabis factory - Asqeri Spaho - and seriously injured another man.

However, they left weapons and other items - including a bloodstained rucksack - at the scene of the killing in Tintern Avenue.

Wesley Hendrickson, Leon Wright, Brian Kinloch, Scott Heaney, Mitchell Harris and Durald Sokoli have been jailed for a combined 112 years, with Hendrickson and Wright jailed for life for murder.

The group travelled from North London into Southend before going to Tintern Avenue, breaking into the address through a bathroom window at the back of the property.

The crooks then attacked 25-year-old Mr Spaho, who was fatally stabbed, and seriously injured another man.

The group then left the scene, discarding weapons, gloves and a balaclava before getting back into a vehicle and heading back to London.

Through analysis of CCTV footage and automatic number plate recognition camera data, detectives were able to identify the vehicles the group used.

They were then able to identify one of the vehicles was registered to Sokoli and another, a hire car, had been leased to Harris.

Police were able to place individual members of the group either in the Southend area at the time of or slightly before the murder, or in the areas of London where and when they had originally met.

Forensic analysis identified DNA from Heaney on a knife found inside the property and one found nearby. DNA belonging to Hendrickson and Wright was also found on items that were recovered from the address.

Kinloch’s DNA was found on a pair of black gloves and a balaclava found nearby.

The court heard Sokoli had travelled to Westcliff two days earlier on December 10 to meet with an inside man, for a “reccy” of the flat.

Judge Samantha Leigh said: “I have no doubt this was pre-planned. The flat was pitch dark, but these that went in new the layout.”

The judge said that Wright’s excuse of picking up swords purely to cut cannabis plants “would have been laughable if it were not so serious”.