OJ Simpson, the former American football star cleared of murdering his wife 13 years ago, is facing the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery.

Simpson, 61, recruited five other men to help hold two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint at a Las Vegas hotel and casino.

He was unanimously convicted of 12 charges this morning at the Clark County District Court in Nevada after 13 hours of deliberations.

The jury announced its verdicts shortly before 11pm local time (7am BST this morning).

Simpson now faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment when he returns to court on December 5. He was remanded in custody.

Moments after the verdicts were taken Yale Galanter, for Simpson, said the fallen star would appeal.

“The verdict was not a shock,” he said. “We knew it going in, there was a lot of baggage.”

In 1995 Simpson was cleared of the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in what was dubbed "the trial of the century" that made headlines around the world.

His conviction today came on the 13th anniversary of his murder acquittal.

Simpson was a star of the NFL (National Football League) in the 1980s before turning his hand to acting and appearing in the Leslie Nielsen comedy series The Naked Gun.

District Attorney David Roger, prosecuting, said Simpson was the leader of the conspiracy at the Palace Station hotel and casino on September 13 last year.

The gang stole several game balls, plaques and photos once owned by Simpson, who was inducted in to the NFL Hall of Fame during his career.

The court heard Simpson had lost the items when trying to hide them from the family of Ronald Goldman and the California civil court after an £18.9m wrongful death judgement was levelled against him in the civil courts.

Simpson's defence team argued the incident had been an attempt to reclaim mementos that had been stolen from him and he had not asked anyone to take guns with them.

He showed little emotion as the verdicts were read out, before being handcuffed and led out of the court by a Clark County marshal.

Four of Simpson's co-conspirators - Charles Cashmore, Walter “Goldie” Alexander, Michael “Spencer” McClinton and Charles Ehrlich - all gave evidence for the prosecution as part of a plea deal.

The fifth man, Simpson's golfing friend Clarence “CJ” Stewart, 54, was also convicted of all 12 charges - two counts of first degree kidnapping, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of coercion with a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime, kidnapping and robbery.

Before the trial began the judge had to sift through some 500 potential jurors, who filled out a 26-page questionnaire, and one prospective member of the panel had to be dismissed after she told the court she felt "he got away with murder”.

One of the sports memorabilia dealers Thomas Riccio who arranged the hotel meeting and filmed it says he has made $210,000 from the recordings.

In 2006, Simpson wrote a book called If I Did It, which detailed how he would have committed the murders of his wife and friend if he had been guilty. But shortly before it was due to be published the book was withdrawn and pulped by HarperCollins.

However in August last year, a Florida bankruptcy court gave the rights to the book to the Goldman family, who published it under the new title I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.

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