A mother whose son was gunned down by robbers as he fought to protect his parents described his killers today as “mindless dregs”.

Judy Hodson-Walker was speaking out as three men were convicted of sub-postmaster Craig’s murder during a botched raid on their family-run village store.

Craig Hodson-Walker, 29, was shot through the heart as he tried to fend off the masked gang at the post office and general stores in Fairfield, Worcestershire, in January.

His father Ken was also shot during the raid – sustaining a bullet wound to his left shin.

After a 10-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court a jury found Christopher Morrissey, aged 32, his brother Declan Morrissey, 34, and Anselm Ribera, 34, guilty of murder.

They were also convicted of attempting to murder Ken Hodson-Walker.

A fourth defendant, Adrian Snape, was cleared of both charges.

After the verdicts, Mrs Hodson-Walker told the court in an impact statement: “I no longer live, I exist. I am scared but if I stop I won’t be able to carry on. I have had to endure living and working in a place where my son was so brutally shot, walking daily past the spot where I held him in my arms, dying, as his beautiful blue eyes slowly turned lifeless.

“Our lives have been destroyed by the mindless dregs. They have no thought but to take what was not theirs, materially but also emotionally.

“Craig’s life was extinguished by men with no values and no sense of purpose other than to take what was not theirs.

“The biggest question I have is why did evil touch us that day? Evil has touched us but it will not destroy us. Our love for Craig will never diminish.”

The gang struck at the store at 8.20am on January 9. Snape waited outside the post office in a stolen getaway car while Ribera and the Morrissey brothers stormed the shop.

Ribera brandished an automatic pistol and the Morrisseys shared a sledgehammer.

The killers demanded cash and keys from Ken Hodson-Walker, 57, who was working behind the counter. But the raid was in vain because the safe – which contained about £20,000 – was on a time lock and could not be opened before 9am.

Craig Hodson-Walker had rushed to his father’s aid with a cricket bat, wearing just his boxer shorts.

Mrs Hodson-Walker, 57, who had tried to fight the robbers with a curtain pole, smiled but remained silent as the verdicts were returned.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Hodson-Walker said that he feared for his life as one of the Morrissey brothers demanded cash in a “threatening” and “evil” voice.

Craig’s fiancée Lisa Bundy, 26, also read a victim impact statement to the judge.

Miss Bundy, dressed in black, said she and Mr Hodson-Walker had been eagerly planning their wedding and were looking to move in together.

She described the moment in which she was told of his death as an “emotional bombshell”.

She said: “It was as if my whole world had collapsed and strangely enough, in hindsight, it has. It is funny how you go through life, sad things happen, and you get upset, but it is not until something as tragic as this happens that you finally realise what really being upset is.

“Every day I feel lonely, I have now lost the one person I felt closest to and the one person I need to hold my hand and tell me everything would be ok. It has left a huge gaping hole in my life.”

Christopher Morrissey, of Elmay Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, Declan Morrissey, of Shirley Park Road, Shirley, Solihull, and Ribera, of Topfield House, Druids Heath, Birmingham, were also convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and attempted robbery.

Snape, of Camelot Way, Small Heath, Birmingham, had already pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, admitting he was the getaway driver.

The gang will be sentenced on Friday.