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Uproar in court as crossbow killer walks free
Sep 16 2005
A TEENAGER who shot a young dad dead with a crossbow bolt through the heart, after a love feud spiralled out of control, has been freed amid uproar at the Old Bailey.
The court heard that, in the weeks running up to the shooting, Jimmy Hewett had threatened to rape Danny Collard's mother and murder his baby nephew.
A jury accepted that Collard, 18, killed Hewett, 21, in self-defence after he told them: "If I hadn't shot him, it would probably be me lying in a coffin."
The death was the result of a bitter love triangle which started when Collard's brother Mark slept with family friend Hewett's girl-friend, Tracey Broom.
The verdict was greeted with screams of "no" from Hewett's friends and relatives in the public gallery as he was cleared of both murder and manslaughter after the jury deliberated for three hours.
Hewett's father Perry shouted: "You murdering *******, you wait."
Speaking after the case Mr Hewett, 47, said he and his wife Sharon, 43, had been left in disbelief at the verdict.
He said: "He shouldn't have got away with it because he's a walking killer.
"Jimmy was a good-hearted boy. All right he got in trouble a few times, but he was a kid. He would never murder you and he wouldn't sleep with his best mate's girl.
"Jimmy offered his auntie one of his kidneys a couple of years ago. In the end his auntie was all right but that's the sort of boy he was."
Mr Hewett, who spoke of how Jimmy was a doting dad to his three-year-old daughter Morgan, called for changes in the law to make it harder for people to buy crossbows.
He said: "You should have to have a licence for a crossbow, like a gun.
"We were expecting manslaughter, a little short, sharp shock for him so he wouldn't do it again. Even if he had got a year it would have told him you're not allowed to shoot people."
He suggested the feud between the two families would continue.
"He has got away with killing him. That's how flash this family is," he said.
Police this week told the court that dozens of death threats and abusive phone calls had been made to the Collard family home in the weeks leading up to the shooting - apparently from Hewett.
After the case Croydon Police defended their decision not to have previously arrested Hewett, stating that an investigation had not been concluded.
A spokesman said: "Croydon Police were carrying out an investigation into allegations of threats to kill."
Sep 16 2005
A TEENAGER who shot a young dad dead with a crossbow bolt through the heart, after a love feud spiralled out of control, has been freed amid uproar at the Old Bailey.
The court heard that, in the weeks running up to the shooting, Jimmy Hewett had threatened to rape Danny Collard's mother and murder his baby nephew.
A jury accepted that Collard, 18, killed Hewett, 21, in self-defence after he told them: "If I hadn't shot him, it would probably be me lying in a coffin."
The death was the result of a bitter love triangle which started when Collard's brother Mark slept with family friend Hewett's girl-friend, Tracey Broom.
The verdict was greeted with screams of "no" from Hewett's friends and relatives in the public gallery as he was cleared of both murder and manslaughter after the jury deliberated for three hours.
Hewett's father Perry shouted: "You murdering *******, you wait."
Speaking after the case Mr Hewett, 47, said he and his wife Sharon, 43, had been left in disbelief at the verdict.
He said: "He shouldn't have got away with it because he's a walking killer.
"Jimmy was a good-hearted boy. All right he got in trouble a few times, but he was a kid. He would never murder you and he wouldn't sleep with his best mate's girl.
"Jimmy offered his auntie one of his kidneys a couple of years ago. In the end his auntie was all right but that's the sort of boy he was."
Mr Hewett, who spoke of how Jimmy was a doting dad to his three-year-old daughter Morgan, called for changes in the law to make it harder for people to buy crossbows.
He said: "You should have to have a licence for a crossbow, like a gun.
"We were expecting manslaughter, a little short, sharp shock for him so he wouldn't do it again. Even if he had got a year it would have told him you're not allowed to shoot people."
He suggested the feud between the two families would continue.
"He has got away with killing him. That's how flash this family is," he said.
Police this week told the court that dozens of death threats and abusive phone calls had been made to the Collard family home in the weeks leading up to the shooting - apparently from Hewett.
After the case Croydon Police defended their decision not to have previously arrested Hewett, stating that an investigation had not been concluded.
A spokesman said: "Croydon Police were carrying out an investigation into allegations of threats to kill."