UK criminal sentenced to life in prison for ordering murder of Groningen man in 2002

The court in Groningen sentenced 52-year-old Robert D. to life in prison on Friday for ordering the murder of Gerard Meesters in Groningen in 2002. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had recommended a life sentence against the suspect from Nottingham in November, who denies all involvement in the murder. D. is going to appeal the verdict, his lawyers have said.

“This was a cold-blooded murder of a completely innocent victim,” said the court chairman. He called it "a ruthless, disruptive murder.”

D. is a notorious figure in the international drug trade. He had Meesters (52) killed on November 28, 2002, because Meesters’ sister had stolen a large amount of hash from him together with one of her friends.

Meesters, who had nothing to do with the drug trade, was shot eight times in the door opening of his home on the Uranusstraat in Groningen.

The shooter, Daniel S. from the United Kingdom, was sentenced to life in prison in 2006. He worked for D. and committed the murder on his orders, the court concluded.

The court based its decision, among other things, on statements made by the convicted shooter and tapped telephone conversations. S. did not directly appoint D. as his client, but the court thinks it cannot be any other case than that the murder order came from D.

Meester’s children were present during the court verdict. They thanked the prosecutor with tears in their eyes. The prosecutor decided to prosecute D. in 2021.

He was arrested in Benalmadena, Spain, in 2015, and extradited to France soon after. He was accused of trafficking cocaine, after investigators in Paris found 20 suitcases filled with the drug on an Air France flight that arrived from Venezuela in 2013.

D. is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence in France for importing 1,300 kilos of cocaine. He was not present in the court in Groningen.