Gamekeeper's 'terrible crime' of shooting love rival

By [epearson]

A Lincolnshire gamekeeper driven out of his mind when his wife left him for one of his best friends blasted the lovers with a shotgun after laying in wait for five hours.

Former Grenadier Guardsman Andrew Dixon (45) shot love rival Neil Willett (42) in the face at close range leaving him with devastating injuries.

His wife Shirley Dixon (43) was also hurt as she tried to shield Mr Willett from the blast.

Yesterday Dixon was jailed for 17 years at Lincoln Crown Court after a judge told him he had committed a "terrible crime".

Dixon had laid in wait outside a lonely cottage at South Ormsby, near Louth, where his wife of 20 years had moved weeks earlier.

There he hid behind wheelie bins armed with a double-barrelled shotgun for five hours waiting for her to return.

Mr Willett was shot in the face and suffered terrible injuries. His upper jaw was blasted away and he still cannot eat or speak properly.

Mrs Dixon was slightly injured as she tried to shield him from the blast.

Dixon, of Parson's Lane, Alford, admitted attempting to murder Mr Willett on June 21 last year and having a shotgun in a public place on the same day.

Jailing Dixon Mr Justice Butterfield told him he had committed a "terrible crime".

"You knew the gun had a deadly effect and you knew how to use it. This was an attempt to murder Mr Willet which very nearly succeeded," he said.

For more details of this case, see Saturday's Echo.