LONDON , Dec 22, 2005 (The Associated Press) – Two British aid workers shot dead in Somaliland by a militant gang who believed they were Christian missionaries were killed unlawfully, an inquest in Britain ruled Thursday.

Dick Eyeington, 62, and his wife Enid, 60, were working as teachers in the breakaway African region when they were gunned down in 2003.

Westminster Coroner's Court heard a man wielding an AK47 rifle opened fire on the couple as they watched television at their home at a school in the village of Sheikh . Eyeington, who was found still clutching the TV remote control, was shot four times in the head, chest and leg. His wife died from a single shot to the head.

The couple's daughter Louise Eyeington, a 37-year-old lawyer from London , told the inquest that her parents, originally from County Durham in northern England , had lived in Africa since they married in 1963.

"Dick and Enid dedicated most of their lives to the education of underprivileged African children," she said. "They had great courage, commitment and honesty and the world is a poorer place without them."

The couple had moved to the village at the request of the charity SOS Children's Villages in 2002, working to rebuild and reopen a secondary school. Eyeington said her parents had moved to the country, a breakaway region of Somalia which does not have international recognition, despite concerns from their family.

Last month, four men, including the man who fired the rifle, Mohammed Ali Essa, were convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Bailey, of London 's Metropolitan Police, which helped with the investigation, said Essa promoted the foundation of an Islamic state in Somaliland and believed the Eyeingtons were attempting to convert Africans to Christianity.

"The defendants did not recognize their actions as crimes," Bailey told the inquest. "They felt justified in murdering infidels who they believed were offending Muslim fundamentalism."

Bailey said the men were suspected of belonging to a terrorist cell, were also responsible for the death of an Italian aid worker and were behind a plot to blow up an Ethiopian airliner.

Westminster coroner Paul Knapman recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.