Retired GP David Crichton, 64, pictured, is accused of trying to hire a ‘Chechen mob’ to kill his financial advisor
A retired GP ordered the contract killing of his financial advisor on the dark web as part of a ‘five-year vendetta’ because he blamed the banker for losing £300,000 from his pension, a court has heard.
David Crichton, of Bournemouth, is accused of accessing the website of a ‘Chechen mob’ to order them to attack Andrew Bolden, choosing the option ‘kill the b*****d’ for £3,800, to be paid in bitcoin.
The 64-year-old is on trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with attempting to solicit the murder of Mr Bolden, a pension and wealth investment advisor for Edinburgh-based private bank Brown Shipley, on February 26 last year.
He is also accused of three charges of sending a malicious communication made up of two text messages and one phone call with the aim of making Mr Bolden fear he would commit suicide.
Earlier this year Crichton was hospitalised after a bicycle crash left him in critical condition, although he has since made a full recovery.
Simon Jones, prosecuting, said Crichton’s actions were discovered by officers with the National Crime Agency (NCA) who had been monitoring a dark web page called ‘Crime Bay by Chechen Mob’ and found the order made for a hitman to kill Mr Bolden.
Mr Jones said the defendant had used a special browser on his computer and created an account on the website before he chose the option to ‘kill the b*****d’ – with other options available being ‘beat the s*** out of him’, ‘set his car on fire’, and ‘set his house on fire’.
The prosecutor said: ‘The defendant’s intention could not be clearer. The steps he took were very clearly an attempt to solicit, ask for, request, seek a murder.’
Crichton, right outside court today, blamed Mr Bolden, left, for losing £300,000 from his pension pot after missing tax deadlines and being hit with a penalty
He added: ‘The website sets out four very distinctive options and the prosecution say the evidence supports that what he did was select the kill the b*****d option.
‘The order was submitted, the button has been clicked, although no payment was made and there was never any evidence of any contact made.
‘In interview, Dr Crichton was to say he was obsessed with suicide and he admitted he had entered Mr Bolden’s details on to the website.
‘There is no dispute that he had done that, he accepted he had downloaded the special Tor browser.
‘He says he had been drinking when he entered the order. But we say he has taken some very specific and deliberate steps.
‘Firstly, he downloaded the browser, secondly the creation of the account, thirdly the placing of the details on Mr Bolden onto the website and finally submitting an order.
‘On March 19, Dr Crichton made eight more searches for hitmen for hire in the UK. So we say this cannot be a drunken act.’
Mr Jones said Crichton met Mr Bolden when he was running a seminar in Bournemouth in September 2011 on NHS pensions, and he gave the GP paid-for advice on how to invest his £1.8 million pension, with an agreement for further advice to be given.
The court heard Crichton, centre, was arrested after the National Crime Agency found his ‘order’ while monitoring the page
The prosecutor said: ‘Dr Crichton delayed some aspects of his advice, he missed certain deadlines and incurred a tax penalty.’
He said Crichton made a complaint to the financial regulator but Mr Bolden was found to have given correct advice.
He said Crichton sent hundreds of emails, prompting his address to be blocked, then sent a text message to Mr Bolden on February 4 2017, saying: ‘I am contacting you out of desperation, I believe you are the only person who can help save my life.’
Mr Jones said Crichton then called Mr Bolden saying his ‘life is at risk’ before sending another message on March 4, saying: ‘I remain desperate to speak to you and since you know my life is at risk I can’t believe you are obstructing me in this.’
The prosecutor said Crichton told police in interview that he had been ‘drunk and feeling suicidal’ when he accessed the dark web site, and had become obsessed with hitmen but had ‘thought it was a game and it wasn’t real’.
The court heard Crichton had amassed a pension pot worth around £1.8million when he made contact with Mr Bolden for advice.
However, when he failed to correctly follow this advice he claimed he lost around £300,000 in a complaint to financial regulators.
In a statement, read to the court, Mr Bolden said: ‘Dr Crichton claimed the advice had caused him to lose money in the region of six figures.
‘He delayed and missed tax deadlines, incurring a penalty.
‘He sent me dozens of messages, he would not accept we were not at fault.
‘I was told by police about a threat that had been made to my life online. It was a total shock to me and to my family.
‘The messages he sent were desperate, rather than outright threatening. They were more an indication of a deteriorating mental state.’
Crichton denies the charges and the trial continues.
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