A LORRY driver and a handyman have been found guilty of taking part in a clean-up operation to hide the scene of the murder of a Petersfield man. Lorry driver Keith Sims, 51, from Portsmouth, and Mark McGaughey, 24, from Bordon, helped clean up the house where 29-year-old Danny Matthews was killed. Mr Matthews, of Chapel Street, Petersfield, was murdered by Malcolm Carter at Carter's Rival Lodge Farm home in West Harting, West Sussex, on June 3 last year. Carter, 43, stabbed builder Mr Matthews in the base of the neck with an eight-inch hunting knife after an altercation between the pair. Carter, who admitted murder, Graham Palfrey, 46, and Sims and McGaughey then cleaned the bungalow and burned the green sofa Mr Matthews was sitting on in a bid to hide the killing from police. The gang also disposed of the murder weapon and Mr Matthews' jewellery and mobile phone and lied to police about their movements. The morning after the killing, Carter took the body of Mr Matthews and buried it in a shallow grave in woodland at Inholm Wood, near Chichester, West Sussex. Mr Matthews' body lay hidden until September when Carter led police to the woods and showed them where it was lying. Last Friday, at Winchester Crown Court, shouts of "yes" came from Mr Matthews' family in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced at the end of the three-week trial. The Recorder of Winchester, Judge Michael Brodrick, granted Sims and McGaughey bail but warned them they will face prison when they are sentenced next month. He said: "You must not take any comfort from the fact bail has been granted. The eventual outcome is virtually certain to be an immediate custodial sentence." During the trial, the court was told that Mr Matthews, Palfrey, who pleaded guilty to perverting the course of jutice, and Sims had been drinking in the Market Inn, Petersfield, on June 3. The jury heard that Palfrey, who lived with Carter, got into a 'minor fracas' with another group of people in the pub and the two rival groups agreed to meet later for a fight. Prosecuting, Michael Parroy QC told the court that just after midnight, Carter, Palfrey, Sims, Mr Matthews and Peter Farrell, who has since died, left the pub in Palfrey's silver Jeep Cherokee car to meet the other men. When the other group failed to turn up the men got back in the jeep and drove back to Rival Lodge Farm. There, Sims went to sleep in his lorry, which was parked in the yard, and the other men went inside the house. Once inside the house an argument broke out between Carter and Mr Matthews. Without warning, Carter went into his room and returned with a hunting knife which he plunged into Mr Matthews' neck. Mr Parroy said: "After the killing, Graham Palfrey instigated a conspiracy to conceal what had taken place. "Keith Sims and Mark McGaughey certainly played a part in that conspiracy." The court heard that the morning after the killing, Palfrey and Farrell went to see Kirsty Harper, who was Palfrey's girlfriend. But they told the police that in fact they had gone to Harper's house the night before and had not returned to Rival Lodge Farm. Harper, 32, of Glenthorne Meadow, Petersfield, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at the start of the three-week trial. During the trial the court also heard evidence from McGaughey, who did odd jobs for Palfrey, in which he admitted that he found out about the killing. But he said he failed to tell police because he feared for his own life. McGaughey said that he went to Rival Lodge Farm on Monday, June 5, and was asked to clean the inside of the silver Jeep Cherokee used to take Mr Matthews' body away. He said: "I just noticed a strong smell of bleach and I also noticed that one of the chairs was missing. I went up to Carter and said 'who have you rubbed out then?' He said, 'you're not stupid are you, Mark?' "I asked him who he had killed and he said, 'Danny.' "I didn't want anything to do with it but I wasn't going to go lurching off because for all I knew I could be next." McGaughey said that he then cleaned the fireplace of the house but he denied that he cleaned it in a bid to remove forensic evidence of the killing. He added: "I can't deny that I may have cleaned some forensic evidence but I was not intentionally at any time trying to clean off forensic evidence." The court also heard evidence from interviews given by Sims at Fareham police station following his arrest on June 23 last year. In the interviews, Sims claimed the green sofa on which Mr Matthews was killed was not burned to hide evidence but was instead thrown out after it had broken during a fight between Palfrey and Carter. Police have welcomed the guilty verdicts and described how difficult the investigation had been. Detective chief inspector Colin Mathews, from Hampshire's major crime department, said: "I would like to send my condolences to the family and friends of Danny. "Danny's disappearance prompted an extensive and complex investigation involving hundreds of police officers and staff from Hampshire Constabulary and Sussex Police. "The investigation team also utilised a number of professionals from different fields such as pollen and geology experts and a forensic archaeologist. "I am glad this investigation has come to a close and that the family of Danny and the community of East Hampshire can see that justice has been done. "Hampshire Constabulary does not tolerate serious crime and those that try to conceal such offences by lying to the police or destroying evidence." Carter and Palfrey have been remanded in custody while Harper, Sims and McGaughey are on bail. All five will be sentenced on August 17.