A FATHER nicknamed The Magician is facing life behind bars for murdering a teenager and hiding his body in his attic for eight months.

Gary Hopkins, 37, hacked 17-year-old Abdi Ali to death at the home he shared with his partner and their three children in London before fleeing to Herefordshire.

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.

Window cleaner Hopkins, who has links to Herefordshire, then bundled the teenager in a duvet cover and hid him in the attic with the murder weapons.

Following an Old Bailey trial, a jury last week found Hopkins guilty of murder after 16 hours of deliberations.

Hopkins had admitted perverting the course of justice and preventing the lawful burial of a body.

The jury cleared his partner Stacy Docherty, 28, of murder but was unable to reach verdicts on the two other charges.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC discharged jurors and adjourned sentencing of Hopkins until April 26.

The court heard how Hopkins took about £400 from the victim to give his own family a good Christmas and took them to Leominster to lay low.

Despite Abdi, known as Skeng, being reported missing by his family, his body lay undiscovered for eight months.

When it was finally found, the body was badly decomposed and infested with insects, Gareth Patterson QC said.

The prosecutor told how Hopkins let slip what had happened to friends who visited the flat last August.

Hopkins, who was known for performing magic tricks, had threatened to kill another drug dealer saying: “I’ve done it before. He’s in the loft.”

Docherty wept as Hopkins got a ladder and encouraged the friends to look for themselves, jurors heard.

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.

Giving evidence, Hopkins blamed a senior member of the GMG for the killing.

Hopkins, who was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking in 1999, told jurors he feared he would be blamed.

He told jurors: “I was scared my kids would wake up and see the body, so I wrapped it up and put it in the attic.

“I was trying to investigate what the reason was behind it.”

But in her evidence, Docherty said her “controlling” and “aggressive” partner had killed “respectful” Abdi, who used their flat to sell drugs.

Docherty said she had not told police about the killing as she was afraid of Hopkins.

The prosecution was given seven days to decide on whether to seek a retrial for Docherty.