Sentence cut for Leeds man jailed after woman shot in genitals as sex fantasy game went wrong

David Andrew Jeffers, 48, left the woman in agony and fled after the shotgun went off during a drink and drug-fuelled sex session at a Stockport hotel.

He dumped the gun on the way to catch a train home to Leeds and then changed his appearance, cutting off his dreadlocks, to avoid being caught.

However, he was tracked by police to Yorkshire and jailed for 10 years last August for having a gun with intent to endanger life at Minshull Street Crown Court.

But today, after an appeal by his lawyers, three top judges in London said Jeffers had been hard done by and cut his sentence to eight-and-a-half years.

Ruling, Mr Justice Morris said Jeffers did not have the gun to commit crime and that the woman was up for the "dangerous act".

They had spoken about her fantasy of having a loaded gun placed in her genitals, said the judge.

And although Jeffers' finger had been on the trigger at the Britannia Hotel, in Offerton, it was a complete accident that the antique rat-eliminating shotgun had gone off.

It caused her "catastrophic" and "life-changing" internal injuries, which had had a "devastating" impact on the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Cutting the sentence, the judge continued: "On any view, his conduct here was extremely reckless and, by his plea, he accepted that it was his intention to endanger life.

"Nevertheless, in our view, there are a number of factors which lead us to the conclusion that this sentence was excessive.

"A sentence of the sort which the judge gave is, in our judgement, the sort of sentence that may be more likely to be imposed for possession of a gun in the context of serious criminal activity.

"In this case, the context was a consensual sexual encounter. There was no background of criminality.

"Secondly, this isn't a case of the possession of a conventional modern gun. It was something like a functioning antique pistol with the least lethal in the range of shotgun pellets.

"He wasn't in possession of the gun for the purpose of committing a criminal offence. There was no hostility between the parties. She was party to the dangerous act."Taking account of all of the factors, we consider that the appropriate sentence after guilty plea in this case would have been one of eight-and-a-half years."

The appeal was allowed.