Slaughterman killed mother with bolt gun

A slaughterman who killed a mother-of-three with a bolt gun in front of her terrified daughters, was jailed for life today.

Mary Griffiths, 38, had called police just hours earlier to voice her fears that John McFarlane, 40, was stalking her after she rejected his advances.

The Old Bailey heard he took revenge after she wrote a message about him on the Facebook website, saying he was "delusional" if he thought she would have a relationship with him.

"He is in our eyes the devil incarnate," Griffiths' sister Louise Scannell said outside court.

"The pain he inflicted on Mary that night and the terror she and her children experienced is what nightmares are made of. We will forever be haunted by thoughts of how much Mary suffered in the last hours of her life."

In May, McFarlane smashed through the back door of Griffiths' home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, with an axe as she and her three daughters slept, the Press Association reported.

He shut down the house lights before he charged up the stairs, dragged Griffiths from the bedroom where she had been sleeping with her 10-year-old daughter, and beat her.

The mother screamed for help as she was attacked and managed to get outside where her 13-year-old girl shouted "don't do it, stop it", as McFarlane shot her mother.

She was shot twice in the chest and once in the left shoulder, with a bolt gun normally used for stunning livestock.

The killer was found later lying in a back garden having cut his arms in an apparent suicide attempt.

McFarlane, of Bury St Edmunds, pleaded guilty to murder at Ipswich Crown Court last week and was told at the Old Bailey he must serve at least 20 years in jail.

Following the plea he again tried to take his own life and remains on 24-hour suicide watch, the court was told.

Prosecutor Stephen Harvey said the pair, both part-time martial arts instructors, had been close friends and she had even organised a surprise 40th birthday party for him but fell out when she spurned his advances after he left his wife.

He took revenge after she wrote on Facebook: "You are delusional if you think I would touch you with a bargepole. Stop stalking me, or I am calling the police."

An investigation into Suffolk Police's handling of the case has been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.