A former gamekeeper and a man who shot a teenage poacher, leaving him paralysed and confined to a wheelchair for life, have been jailed at Maidstone Crown Court.

Paul Jeffrey, 38, of Keats Road, Aylesford, fired the shot that grievously injured 18-year-old John Smith on April 17, 2006. He was sentenced to two years eight months.

The other man, 56-year-old Jonathan Cannon, then of Oxenhoath Road, Hadlow, now of Tunbridge Wells, was locked up for three years.

Jeffrey, received a lesser term because he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm, while Cannon denied the charge but was convicted.

Both men denied possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and an alternative of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and were acquitted of both charges.

Mr Smith, then 16, from Meopham, was "lamping" for rabbits with others near the stately home Oxon Hoath in Hadlow when the incident happened.

Read the full report in next week's Kent Messenger and Gravesend Messenger.