Jealous wife shot dead her rival, court hears

A former Army corporal drove 60 miles after dropping her children at school to shoot dead her husband's lover with a shotgun at point-blank range in a beauty salon, a court heard yesterday.

Rena Salmon, 43, told friends that she wanted to wound Lorna Stewart, 36, so she would feel the rejection she had felt when she discovered that her husband, Paul, was having an affair with the salon owner.

But a jury at the Old Bailey was told that Ms Salmon walked into Ms Stewart's business in Chiswick, west London, in September last year with a double-barrelled shotgun and fired two shots into her chest from nine inches away.

The Salmons, who met in the Army and had two children during a 17-year marriage, had been due to go to court to finalise their divorce proceedings the day after the killing.

Ms Salmon, of Great Shelford, Berkshire, denies murder on the grounds of provocation and diminished responsibility. The trial continues.