One of the longest murder trials in the country ended yesterday, with the jury convicting two men for the murder of elderly Manchester couple Richard and Julia Lyn.

It took the 11-member jury one hour and 10 minutes to return with the guilty verdicts. One juror fell ill at the end of the first week of the trial, which began on October 5.

The convicts, Lennox Swaby, 28, taxi driver and farmer of Hopeton district, Manchester, and Calvin 'Kevin' Powell, 26, garbage-truck driver, of New Green, Manchester, showed no sign of emotion when the verdicts were handed down. They could get the death penalty.

They will be sentenced on January 12 in the Home Circuit Court.

The Lyns' children, Dr Maurice Lyn and Diana Wilson, who were in court, said they were happy with the verdict.

"We are glad that the men will no longer be in a position to harm innocent people," Dr Lyn said.

They also praised the police and the prosecutors for the vital role they played in bringing their parents' killers to justice.

The case was also the last for Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh, as she should have retired at the end of November but had to wait until the case was completed.

She has ordered psychiatric and social enquiries and prison authority reports for the men.

Prosecutors Lisa Palmer Hamilton and Claudette Thompson called 47 witnesses to prove the men strangled 75-year-old businessman Richard Lyn and 71-year-old Julia Lyn during a robbery at their home in Mandeville between December 9 and 10, 2006.

The Crown brought evidence that Powell showed police where to find the bodies, while an American footwear expert matched an imprint found at the scene with Swaby.

There was also video-taped evidence of the two men inside an automated banking machine in Mandeville using a bank card belonging to Julia Lyn.

Powell was held with a mobile phone belonging to Richard Lyn and photographs of the couple's children in a billfold. The two men were also seen driving motor vehicles belonging to the Lyns, while furniture belonging to the Lyns were found at both men's homes.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com