Salford 'Psycho' Gets At Least 30 Years

27 July 2012, 19:31 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A laughing, smirking murderer who shot dead a stranger in the street in Salford has been locked up for at least 30 years.

Kiaran Stapleton walked up to stranger 23 year old Anuj Bidve, in the street in Salford and shot him in the head at point blank range.

Stapleton, 21, had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but a jury at Manchester Crown Court rejected that argument and convicted him of murder.

Stapleton laughed as he stood over the body of his victim, who he gunned down in the early hours of Boxing Day last year.

He also found amusement in police interviews over the murder and regularly grinned and laughed throughout his five-week murder trial.

The defendant beamed as he came into court for the verdict and again towards a family member as he was led from the dock.

Following the verdict, Mr Bidve's father Subhash said Stapleton had ``openly laughed at the memory of our son'' and believed Stapleton should never be released from prison.

Mr Bidve and his wife, Yogini, revisited the crime scene on Thursday night to say prayers and lay a bouquet of flowers and were returning home to India on Friday.

His son had arrived in the UK to study micro-electronics at Lancaster University and was visiting Manchester with a group of friends last Christmas.

They left their hotel in Salford to queue early for the sales when their paths crossed with that of Stapleton who  shot Mr Bidve.

23 year old Anuj Bidve was murdered on Boxing Day.