A BRIDGWATER man convicted of involvement in a murder plot has today (Friday) been jailed.

Simon Webber, 32, and four other men had denied taking part in the attempt to kill Jonathan Catchpole at a flat in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk but were earlier this year found guilty of conspiracy to murder by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court.

Webber, of Sydenham Close, Bridgwater was also convicted of attempted murder and admitted possessing a prohibited weapon.

Today (Friday) the men, including Webber who is alleged to have pulled the trigger of a sawn-off shotgun to blast Mr Catchpole in the chest at point-blank range, were sentenced to a total of 112 years imprisonment.

Webber, who the court heard had 17 previous convictions for 59 offences and had served four previous prison terms, was sentenced by Judge David Goodin to 23 years.

During the trial, it emerged that Suffolk businessman Colin Deferia 60, had offered £12,500 for Mr Catchpole, Deferia's daughter's ex partner, to be killed.

Deferia, of Battisford Road, Barking, near Needham Market, claimed while giving evidence that he had only wanted Mr Catchpole to be frightened and had been unaware that any firearms were to be involved.

Deferia was jailed for 26 years.

In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Andrew Jackson, Mr Catchpole said that before the shooting he had been on good terms with Deferia.

The statement said: "I was friends with Colin Deferia for almost five years. He was someone I looked up to."

Harrassment which escalated to the shooting was described by Mr Catchpole as "terrorism."

He said the attack had left him "looking over his shoulder," suffering from anxiety and depression.

The trial had heard that the events leading up to the shooting followed an acrimonious break up of a five and a half year relationship which Mr Catchpole had had with Deferia's daughter.

Mr Catchpole said that his personality had changed. He said: "How I survived the shooting is a miracle.

"I was left with scars which make me embarrassed when I go swimming."

Mr Catchpole had been shot after answering the door of his flat on August 4 last year when three men armed with a sawn-off shotgun burst in and pushed him against a wall.

He was later airlifted to hospital where doctors removed 42 shotgun pellets and cartridge wadding from his chest.

Police discovered that the shotgun being carried by Webber had been stolen in a burglary and then had the barrel shortened.

Andrew Seaton, 40, of Frome View, Maiden Newton and Frank Warren, 52, of Victoria Road, Dorchester, who had been the other two men who burst into Mr Catchpole's flat were also convicted of attempted murder and possession of a prohibited firearm.

Seaton was jailed for 23 years and Warren for 23 years. 

Prosecutor Mr Jackson said both Seaton and Warren had previous convictions and served prison sentences.

During the trial, Webber, Seaton and Warren declined to give evidence in their own defence.

The fifth man convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, Paul Baker, 35, of Neils View, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, had acted as a "middle man" for Deferia, recruiting the three men who carried out the shooting, the court heard.

Baker, who was jailed for 17 years, had told the trial jury that he was unaware of what was going to happen to Mr Catchpole.

He said: "I definitely didn't know he was going to be shot."

Prosecutor Mr Jackson said that while Deferia and Baker had no previous convictions, Webber, Seaton and Warren had all served previous terms of imprisonment.

Mr Jackson told Judge Goodin that the prosecution had cost £113,860 in legal and expert fees and civilian witnesses.