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Hitman's jail term cut
A HIRED assassin promised more than £20,000 to carry out the "cold blooded contract killing" of a wealthy gamekeeper by the victim's own wife and son has had his minimum jail sentence cut on appeal.
Peter Thomas Jacques, aged 30, of Charlesworth Street, Bolsover, Derbyshire, agreed to murder Neil Bacon - said to be a "domineering and violent" man by his family.
He was hired by Mr Bacon's son, Michael, of Wordsworth Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, on the instigation of his mother, Susan, who he lived with at Keeper's Cottage, Clumber Park, Worksop.
Mr Bacon, 50, was stabbed six times on his driveway by Jacques on November 26 2008. He died from blood loss after staggering to his kitchen.
His wife and son then pretended he had been the victim of a botched burglary.
All three were convicted of his murder at Nottingham Crown Court in December last year, and jailed for life. Jacques received a 28-year minimum term, Susan Bacon 24 years, and Michael Bacon 21 years.
But Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Mr Justice McCombe and Judge Francis Gilbert QC, sitting at the Criminal Appeal Court in London, reduced Jaques' tariff to 26 years.
The court heard Mr Bacon had more than 200,000 in bank accounts, safety deposit boxes and stored in the house.
Michael and Susan Bacon told the trial jury Mr Bacon had been violent towards them.
Lord Justice Moore-Bick said their motivation for arranging his killing was "a mixture of hatred and greed."
Allowing Jacques' appeal, the judge said he ought not to have been punished so much more harshly than Susan Bacon, the architect of the plot.
Michael Bacon also appealed against the length of his minimum term, but his plea was refused. Lord Justice Moore-Bick said any reduction would have "failed to reflect the gravity of his offence" he was convicted of.
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