A policewoman in Northern Ireland who shot her former lover after he ended their affair has been sent to prison for 12 years.
In September 2006, 41-year-old Constable Diane Northcott walked into Newtownabbey PSNI base near Belfast, produced her police issue handgun and shot Sergeant Laurence Smyth.
He was wounded in the neck and thigh.
He suffered serious spinal injures and is now permanently disabled and confined to a wheelchair for life.
The judge who sentenced Northcott to 12 years in jail said she had been obsessed by Sergeant Smyth and said it was his desire to end their affair which led her to try and kill him.
The judge acknowledged the policewoman had been suffering from depression and alcohol dependency, but he rejected a claim she had a psychiatric condition.
Sergeant Smyth said the sentence given to Northcott was far too light.
He said that in six years' time she will walk out of prison, but he will still be in a wheelchair.
