Guardsman killed for gun killing

A military policeman with the Coldstream Guards was jailed for 10 years at the Old Bailey yesterday for killing a bystander with a shot from an assault rifle.

Lance Corporal Gregory Hobbins, 30, took his ex- girlfriend prisoner in her north London flat after she ended their affair, the jury heard. He fired two rounds in quick succession from an SA80 rifle which went through the front door. One of the shots killed Christopher Coyle, 39, who lived in another flat, the other wounded PC Royston Daniels, 26, as he was about to force an entry.

Hobbins was convicted of manslaughter and wounding.