ONE of the men accused of murdering Guy Hedger told a prison officer his co-defendant was the shooter, a court has heard.

Scott Keeping was an inmate at HMP Winchester in May when he allegedly told the officer he had only gone to Mr Hedger’s home to steal valuables in order to fund his drug habit.

He then said Kevin Downton was responsible for firing the gun which killed Mr Hedger, it was heard.

Mr Hedger, who was 61, died of a shotgun injury to his chest inflicted at his home in Castlewood, St Ives in the early hours of April 30 this year.

Prosecutors allege he was injured during the course of a bungled burglary when two masked men broke into the property armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

On the second day of a trial at Winchester Crown Court, Nigel Lickley QC told jurors Keeping had also spoken at length with a fellow inmate at the prison, Dean Lee.

In the course of their conversation, Keeping “revealed a considerable amount of detail about the murder and burglary”, Mr Lickley said.

The defendant allegedly told Mr Lee he was in prison for an aggravated burglary that had turned into a shooting.

He said there were £200,000 and jewellery in a safe, but a panic button had been pressed by one of the men in the house, it was heard.

“Access was gained around the side of the house. The two men were in bed and the man who died would not open the safe,” Mr Lickley alleged Keeping had revealed.

“[He said] one of the males hit the panic button and the male was shot.

“The person who shot the male was the youngest who later handed himself in.

“That was Kevin Downton.”

Keeping allegedly told Mr Lee he had been waiting in a car parked nearby.

Keeping and two of his co-defendants, Downton and Jason Baccus, first appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court charged with murder on May 6 this year.

Before the hearing got underway, Keeping “became animated”, Mr Lickley said.

“[He] held out his left hand, pointed towards people at the back of the court and made a pulling trigger motion with his right hand, as if firing a gun,” the barrister told jurors.

Prosecutors allege Mr Hedger was shot after his husband, Simon Hedger-Cooper, pressed a panic alarm on the wall of their bedroom believing both were going to be killed.

Jewellery, watches and bags worth more than £120,000 were reportedly taken from the couple’s home following the incident.

Some of the items were found hidden inside a jiffy bag inside a post box in Western Avenue and in bushes near the Brook Road allotments, it was said.

Police reportedly found parts of a 12-bore shotgun were discovered in the River Stour near Canford School on August 27.

Baccus, 42, and Keeping, 44, both of Verney Close in Bournemouth, and Kevin Downton, 40, of Winterborne Stickland near Blandford, deny murder, aggravated burglary, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and burglary.

Helen Keeping, 40, of Verney Close, pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting an offender.

“We burgled a couple of *******”

ALL three men were interviewed on a number of occasions by police in early May following their arrests.

The court heard Baccus answered no comment to all questions, while Keeping told police he was an alcoholic who would get “blotto” before going to bed most days and suffered with “brain shrinkage” and epilepsy.

He told police they “would have to do their own work” as he wasn’t a “grass”, and said he had nothing to do with either the burglary or the shooting.

Prosecutors allege Downton repeatedly changed his story to police.

During his initial questioning, he allegedly told officers he had gone out to Toys R Us on the evening of April 29 to buy presents for his daughter’s birthday the following day before returning home, where he stayed all night.

During the second interview, Downton said after visiting the toyshop he had stayed up all night taking cocaine in his car in Upton, it was heard.

The third time he was interviewed, his story changed again, prosecutors claim.

Helen Keeping, who is married to her co-defendant Scott and was living with both him and Baccus at the time Mr Hedger died, said she had put “two and two together”.

She learned of the alleged murder on the Daily Echo’s website, she said.

Helen Keeping alleged Baccus had told her he and Downton had “burgled a couple of *******”, it was heard.

“Jason told us Kev was the one with the gun and the man went for the panic button and that’s when Kev shot him,” it is alleged she told police.

The trial continues.