A 22-year-old man planned to kill his family but his plot foiled when police got his parents to pretend to be dead.
The son hired an assassin to murder his wealthy parents and ten-year-old sister so he could claim his inheritance. Unknown to him, detectives had already found out about the plot so they hatched a plan.
An officer pretended to be a hired assassin in the Russian resort of Sochi. The unsuspecting son then instructed the "contract killer" on how and where his family should be murdered. He is even claimed to have drawn a floor plan and indicated where security cameras were placed, and how to avoid guard dogs. He agreed on a fee with the undercover policeman for killing all three of his relatives, police said, and demanded to see pictures of his slain parents.
Detectives then staged the killing in the family home with the help of the parents. They got the parents to pretend they had been murdered, then they took photos of the fake murder scene and showed it to the son.
After seeing the pictures of his dead parents, the suspect allegedly expressed "delight" and agreed to pay the promised £38,000 fee to the man he believed was a contract killer as soon as he had collected his inheritance. But he was immediately detained by the police officer posing as the assassin with the help of other armed police.
The son immediately confessed, according to police in Krasnodar region, who revealed that he had twice plotted to kill them previously.
"He wanted to get rid of his parents because they were not giving him money," said a police source. "Before looking for a killer he tried to get rid of his relatives twice. He was looking on the internet to find out how to carry out the murders. The criminal wanted to put pills in the kettle to poison his parents but his father found out something was wrong. Then the son planned to break a thermometer in his parents' car so that they were poisoned with mercury vapours. But he got cold feet."
During interrogation the young man said: "I had been planning it for several months. I'm so done with them, they didn't understand me, so I found a contract killer."
Police said the man's parents are devastated and can't believe their son tried to kill them because of their wealth. The parents have a large house and car as well as savings which would have gone to their son.
The man faces 15 years in jail if convicted of preparing the contract killings of his family.