A jealous husband has been cleared of murdering his wife after discovering her secret affair. David Leeman, 60, admitted shooting Jennie Leeman five times with a semi-automatic pistol at close range in a barn on their farm in rural Devon. He was convicted of manslaughter and possession of a prohibited weapon, with sentencing scheduled for Friday.
Exeter Crown Court heard that Mrs Leeman, who had two sons and two daughters with the defendant during a 20-year relationship, had started seeing another man, Norman Laramy, 40. Leeman discovered the affair six days before the killing at the farm near Barnstaple in north Devon.
Leeman claimed he heard voices in his head in the moments leading up to the death and that anti-depressants he was taking had impacted his mental faculties. Experts were divided on whether the dosage was sufficient to cause his behaviour on the day of the shooting in July last year.
Outside court, a spokesman for Mrs Leeman's family expressed disappointment, saying: 'No one has the right to take another person's life. We, Jennie's family, feel disappointed and that justice has not been done for such a terrible thing that David Leeman has done to our wonderful daughter, sister and friend to so many people.'
There was a gasp from the public gallery as the jury returned a verdict of not guilty to murder, with Leeman appearing to collapse from a standing position in the dock to his seat, where he was supported by two security guards. Justice Butterfield said Leeman would be sentenced for manslaughter and possession of a prohibited weapon.
