HAPLESS ASSASSIN EXECUTED FOR REFUND MURDER

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Hapless Assassin Executed for Refund Murder

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has executed a paid assassin who failed to kill his intended target but murdered the woman who hired him after she demanded a refund.
An unnamed Beijing woman hired Li Changjiang and two associates for about $12,000 in 2000 to kill or disfigure her husband's mistress, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

When Li and his accomplices, Zhang Hongyu and Sun Yanhai, failed to follow through, the woman asked for her money back, but they refused.

In September 2000, Li, Zhang and Sun killed the woman and torched her car, Xinhua said.

Li, sentenced by Beijing's First Intermediate People's Court, was executed on Friday. Sun was sentenced to life imprisonment and Zhang was still at large.