Two men jailed for life for murder at botched burglary in Dorset

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a business executive who was shot dead during a botched burglary at his home as his husband looked on.

Guy Hedger, 61, was blasted with a sawn-off shotgun by masked intruders who made off with £120,000-worth of valuables including jewellery, watches and designer bags.

Jason Baccus, 42, of Bournemouth, and Kevin Downton, 40, of Winterborne Stickland, near Blandford Forum, were convicted of murder on Monday after a two-month trial. A third man, Scott Keeping, 44, of Bournemouth, was found not guilty of murder.

The trial heard that Baccus and Downton broke into the home of Hedger and Simon-Pierre Hedger-Cooper in a quiet Dorset village while the couple slept. Baccus told the couple: “We will shoot you if you don’t do what we say,” and ordered them to lie on their bed.

The burglars demanded to know the codes to two safes in the bedroom. When Hedger-Cooper activated a panic alarm, Downton shot Hedger in the chest.

The raiders fled the property and took the couple’s phones to buy a few moments to escape, meaning Hedger-Cooper could not call emergency services.

Hedger, a marketing director for an insurance company who had been with his partner for 12 years, died from blood loss.

Some of the stolen valuables were found in the flat where Baccus lived, and gunshot residue was discovered on a snood used by Downton.

Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, said the men had arrived at the scene of the raid just after midnight on 30 April 2017 but were spooked by a dog walker. To “pass time” they committed two burglaries at nearby industrial estates before returning at 3am, the jury at Winchester crown court was told.

Lickley said the raid was well-organised: “This was no random event – this was meticulously planned.”

In his victim impact statement read to the court, Hedger-Cooper, 48, said: “Guy was an intelligent, creative, caring and gentle man. He worked hard his whole adult life, he deserved what he had worked for, he deserved to enjoy the fruits of his labour and he deserved to still be with me today ... No one deserves to have their life ended in such an abrupt way. I pray that he is now at peace.

“The events of that evening have radically changed my life for ever and are an experience from which I shall never recover. To lose the person you have loved and cared for over many years is devastating whenever that moment comes, but losing that person in these tragic circumstances in front of you, in your own home, is horrific and makes the pain unbearable.

“The effect of what I went through that night has had a significant impact on my life. What I saw, what I heard and how I felt and continue to feel will haunt me until my dying day. Every moment of darkness seems like an eternity making sleep elusive and difficult to achieve without medical intervention.

“The callous and calculated nature of this crime, the invasion into our lives, the taking of the phones to stop me from summoning assistance, all point to a total disregard for humanity.”

The jury heard the defendants led chaotic lifestyles, stealing to fund drug and drink habits. Downton and Baccus 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.

Keeping was also cleared of these offences. His wife, Helen Keeping, 40, was acquitted of two counts of assisting an offender.

Baccus and Downton were jailed for life and told they would serve at least 34 years before being considered for parole.

Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Jay, told them the raid was “amateurish and incompetent”, adding: “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.”

Speaking to Downton, he said: “You have a cold, callous streak and show no remorse.” He told Baccus: “I would not describe you as ruthless but I have seen no signs of remorse from you.”