Guy Hedger murder: Pair jailed for 34 years for killing businessman in botched burglary at £1m home

Two drug addicts have each been jailed for a minimum of 34 years after murdering an insurance executive during a botched raid at his £1 million home in a quiet Dorset village.

Jason Baccus and Kevin Downton broke into Guy Hedger’s luxury detached property as he slept upstairs with his husband, Simon-Pierre Hedger-Cooper.

Woken at around 3am, Mr Hedger, 61, went downstairs but as he returned to the bedroom he was followed by two masked men, one armed with the shotgun and the other holding two champagne bottles taken from a wine rack in the garage to use as weapons.

They forced the terrified couple to lie naked on the floor facing the wall while they snatched up valuable designer jewellery including Cartier watches, Louis Vuitton bags and a Tiffany's necklace before demanding the code to the safe.

When Mr Hedger-Cooper, 48, hit a concealed panic alarm, alarms began to sound and lights flashed.

Mr Hedger, his partner of 12 years, was shot in the chest at point blank range before the pair fled the house in Castlewood, near Ringwood, Hants, with £125,000 worth of stolen goods.

Guy Hedger to his husband, moments before he died

They also took with them the couple’s phones in an attempt to to “buy a few precious moments in their escape”.

Baccus, 42, from Bournemouth, Dorset, and Downton, 40, from Winterborne Stickland, near Blandford, were found guilty of murder following a 40-day trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The pair, who met in prison, were also convicted of offences of aggravated burglary with a firearm, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and two charges of burglary of industrial buildings.

They showed no emotion as the verdicts were announced although gasps could be heard from the public gallery.

Mr Justice Jay, said they had made a "series of elementary but stupid decisions" with an "amateurish and incompetent" raid.

He told them: "You may have been out of your own depths, that was your decision, but the risk of taking a loaded gun into someone's bedroom was evident to you as to anyone.

"The tragedy was on the cards."

A third defendant, Scott Keeping, 44, was found not guilty of murder and his wife, Helen Keeping, 40, was also cleared of two counts of assisting an offender. Baccus lived with the couple and told the court he would take heroin and crack cocaine with them.

Mr Hedger was marketing director at LV Insurance and a director of the Avonbourne International Business and Enterprise Trust, which runs colleges and a primary school in the Bournemouth area.

He died from blood loss, aggravated by a pre-existing heart condition.

Downton and Baccus had arrived at the property at around midnight but were spooked by a dog walker so raided two premises at nearby industrial estates before returning.

They entered by climbing a neighbour’s railings, forcing open a window and climbing into the garage.

Mr Hedger-Cooper described how his partner had begun to tell the raiders the code for their personal safe but then froze.

He wept as he recalled how he "stupidly" pressed a panic alarm during the April 30 raid.

"All the alarms outside went on and flashing, alarms going off,” he said.

“As it happened I heard an almighty boom, shot, and Guy said, 'I have been hit, I have been hit.'”

The court heard that much of the stolen jewellery was found discarded in various locations around the area but many valuable items had not been recovered by police.

These include a Pandora bracelet which Mr Hedger had given to his partner of 10 years and which had charms including their star signs and a bible.

Other items taken included a 14 carat gold ring with rubies and emeralds and several watches, including brands Amadeus and Cartier.

Also stolen were a Louis Vuitton wash bag worth about £650 given to Mr Hedger-Cooper by his partner for Christmas 2012 and a larger bag of the same brand worth £1,200.

Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, said:  "This was no random unplanned event. It was carefully planned and they were not going to be stopped - hence the loaded gun."