Policewoman jailed over shooting

A policewoman who admitted trying to kill her former lover when she shot him with her police issue handgun has been jailed for 12 years. Diane Northcott, 41, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Sergeant Laurence Smyth inside a police station in Newtownabbey in September 2006.

They had been having an affair, but after he tried to end the relationship she shot him in the neck and thigh.

Sgt Smyth suffered spinal injuries and is now confined to a wheelchair.

At a sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court, Justice Hart said the consequences of Northcott's attack warranted a heavy sentence. "Of particular significance is the catastrophic nature of the injuries she has inflicted upon Sergeant Smyth, and the extremely grave disability from which he will suffer for the rest of his life," he said. "This requires a sentence at the upper end of the appropriate scale for cases of attempted murder."

Speaking outside the court, Sergeant Smyth said the sentence was "far too light. In six years time she will walk out, but I will still be in the wheelchair," he said.