A GANGSTER who was jailed for life for master-minding the kidnap and murder of a private housing manager has had his bid to overturn his conviction rejected.

In 2011 Paul Devalda was told he would have to serve at least 21 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and the murder of father-of-four Paul Brady.

But Devalda, formerly of Padiham Road, Burnley, took his case to the Court of Appeal but failed to convince judges that there were sufficient grounds to quash his conviction.

During a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, a jury was told how Mr Brady, 44, was lured to a housing complex near Bacup, where he was battered by between 10 and 15 masked armed attackers and bundled into a van. His body has never been found.

In the seven-week trial the jury heard Mr Brady had been involved in a £350,000 cocaine deal and had the drugs at his Rochdale home.

The prosecution claimed that 42-year-old Devalda, a drug dealer involved in organised crime, targeted Mr Brady after learning of the large cocaine haul.

Mr Brady was lured to the exclusive Lynns Court complex in Weir, where he was site manager, on August 1 2009, to repair a house.

As he and joiner David Collier left the site in Beaufort Road they were set upon by up to 15 attackers wearing ski masks and toting weapons including metal bars and a sawn-off shotgun.

Mr Collier managed to fend-off the gang and get away, but an eyewitness reported seeing a ‘limp’ body being bundled into a Citroen Berlingo and driven off.

Following the attack, police, who already had convicted drug dealer Devalda under close surveillance, planted a ‘bug’ in a hotel room he was sharing with Crossley.

The jury was played a conversation between the pair, which was recorded by the bug, during which Devalda speaks about getting rid of something ‘on the moors’.

Speaking outside court at the conclusion of the trial, Detective Sergeant Paul Broxson said he was ‘delighted’ at the outcome.

He said: “I am more delighted for the family after everything they have been through over the last 18 months and the weight of this week.

“It was a lengthy and complex inquiry and one that was always going to be a difficult case for us to prove against the individuals involved.

“The jury has reached what I believe is the right decision.”