A former British soldier has been jailed for five years after he killed a 52-year-old woman while suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Aaron Wilkinson, 24, suffered a shrapnel wound in an intense two-day battle against the Taliban during a six-month tour in Afghanistan.
He admitted shooting Judith Garnett in the chest and head on January 24 last year at Bradford Crown Court.
In April this year, Wilkinson was cleared of murdering Mrs Garnett, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Mrs Garnett's family said his sentence had "flattened" relatives.
Her brother, Chris Higgins, said: "The family are appalled with the decision. It has flattened the family and we are going to appeal against it."
Wilkinson, wearing glasses, a dark suit, white shirt and tie, showed no emotion as he was given the indeterminate jail sentence for the public protection with a minimum term of five years.
The former soldier, of Woodlesford, Leeds, joined the Territorial Army at 19 and went on a six-month tour of duty of Afghanistan in 2009.
Following his return from Afghanistan, Wilkinson moved into Mrs Garnett's attic room.
The court heard that Wilkinson had known Mrs Garnett since he was 13. He worked on her game farm and she acted as a mother figure to him.
While staying in Mrs Garnett's attic, he applied to join the regular Army but his application was turned down.
He found it hard to adapt to civilian life and motivate himself and his relationship with Mrs Garnett began to deteriorate.
On the day of the shooting, on January 24 last year, Mrs Garnett returned home and shouted at him for not letting her dogs out, calling him "thick" and a "cruel bastard".
The judge rejected Wilkinson's account that he shot Mrs Garnett three times after she threw his shotgun up through the hatch into his attic bedroom and told him to "pack his bags".
He said he could not believe Wilkinson's account that Mrs Garnett stood in the attic room and watched Wilkinson load the gun with two cartridges before shooting her.
He told Wilkinson: "I am satisfied that you had already loaded that gun. When she came to the attic you gave her no choice to say or do anything, you simply gunned down a defenceless woman."
Wilkinson said he could not explain why he shot Mrs Garnett and said it was as though he was in a "trance".
The jury accepted that the combination of Asperger's syndrome and PTSD had left Wilkinson unable to fully exercise self-control at the time of the attack.
The judge said: "This was a brutal killing of a woman in her own home. Her sons, who when young lost their father in a car accident, now have no mother.
"Your victim's elderly father has had to live to see his daughter die in the most shocking and distressing circumstances."
