‘Jealous’ farmer blasted estranged wife with shotgun

A MIDLANDS farmer has been jailed for life for the murder of his estranged wife.

Andrew Hooper has been convicted of shooting to death Cheryl Hooper outside her home in Newport, Shropshire.

Hooper, who showed no emotion at the unanimous verdict, was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 31 years, at Birmingham Crown Court.

He had denied murder, claiming he was only trying to scare her, but Judge Mark Wall QC said: “This was not a last-minute decision to kill, arrived at outside Cheryl’s, but rather a planned execution.”

The 46-year-old, who suffered severe facial injuries and lost the ability to speak after turning his shotgun on himself, was allowed to type answers on a keypad during the trial.

Prosecutors said Hooper, known as Jack, had “murder in his eyes” when he deliberately shot Cheryl outside her home in January last year. Cheryl’s teenage daughter told the court last week how her mother screamed “Oh my god, he’s here” shortly before she was shot.

Wearing a tweed jacket and dark trousers and sitting in a wheelchair beside the witness box, Hooper told the jury he loved his wife.

He said that he did not have a clear recollection of all of the events.

During questioning from defence counsel Philip Bradley, Hooper said he believed his wife was having an affair after seeing her with friends, including a man, at a Tettenhall pub.

Mr Bradley asked Hooper: “Did that conclusion affect your view as to whether your marriage could be saved?”

Hooper, using his keyboard, answered: “My marriage could be saved but it would be more difficult.”

Addressing the events shortly after 11pm on January 26, outside his wife’s home in Farmers Gate, Mr Bradley asked him: “Tell the jury, please, what was the purpose of approaching that car with a shotgun?”

Using his keyboard, Hooper responded: “To frighten Cheryl.”

ANDREW HOOPER

Mr Bradley added: “Why? What did you want Cheryl to do.”

Hooper typed: “To leave other man and reconcile our marriage.”

After maintaining he had not intended to shoot his wife, Hooper was asked if he accepted that he had acted unlawfully by using a prohibited firearm with the intention of frightening her.

“Yes,” he typed. “And I live every day knowing I am responsible for her death. It is not a good feeling. I am not guilty of murder, though.”

Cheryl, 51, had moved out of the couple’s 400-acre farm in Guild Lane, Newport. The Crown claimed Hooper shot her in the neck from about 1.5 metres away because he was “consumed with anger and jealousy” after she left him at the end of 2017. He tracked his wife’s car, took a shotgun and “ambushed” her outside her house.

Mrs Hooper’s daughter Georgia, who was 14 at the time and witnessed the shooting, read a victim impact statement to the court.

“Mum was funny, beautiful and my best friend; the thought of her not being with me to share my life makes me very sad,” she said.

I live every day knowing I am responsible for her death. It is not a good feeling