Cambridgeshire shootings: Man who shot father and son dead jailed for life

Gary and Josh Dunmore died of gunshot wounds at two separate properties in Cambridgeshire in March

A man who shot a father and son dead, in what a judge described as an "execution", has been jailed for life.

Stephen Alderton killed Gary Dunmore, 57, and Josh Dunmore, 32, at separate properties in two Cambridgeshire villages in March.

Cambridge Crown Court heard the killings came two days after a family court hearing.

Jailing him for a minimum of 25 years, the judge told Alderton, 67, he had taken the law into his own hands.

Josh Dunmore, the former partner of Alderton's daughter, was found dead at his home in Bluntisham, while six miles away his father was found dead at his home in Sutton.

Alderton pleaded guilty to the two murders and prosecutor Peter Gair said "it's clear that the events were triggered by an ongoing family court case" involving his grandson.

Stephen Alderton, 67, pleaded guilty to the murders of Gary and Josh Dunmore

Judge Mark Bishop said Alderton murdered the men over his "distorted beliefs" about family court proceedings "following what was an interim and not final hearing on 27 March".

The court heard Alderton, of no fixed address, had written in a text message last year: "I've a shortlist of people I intend to murder."

Prosecutor Mr Gair said Alderton had a shotgun licence and lawfully held a Beretta shotgun which was used in both killings.

Police said the father and son were shot about half an hour apart on the night of 29 March.

Soon after the first shooting was reported in Bluntisham, the body of Gary Dunmore, 57, was found in The Row, Sutton

Mr Gair said it was likely Alderton knocked on Josh Dunmore's door and shot him "twice at close range" when he opened it, before later shooting Gary Dunmore at close range, with three of four shots hitting him.

After Alderton was arrested in his motorhome on the M5 near Worcester hours later by armed officers, he told police that "sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if it's wrong in the eyes of the law".

The court had heard Alderton had written in previous text messages that he would "override any court decision" and that there was "always a plan B".

Judge Bishop told the defendant: "You took the decision to take the law into your own hands and end the lives of two innocent men."

The court had previously heard victim impact statements, in which Gary Dunmore's mother said: "Both were killed in the most vicious, cowardly way with no opportunity for self-defence."

In a letter to the court, Alderton wrote he was "not the person that this conflict and the family courts have driven me to become".

He said: "If I could turn back time I would.

"I regret there are not enough words of remorse I can offer to the families affected by this crime."

A man and woman from Mildenhall, Suffolk, who were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder are on bail until 7 December.