THE husband of a businessman allegedly murdered during a botched burglary has described how intruders shot his partner after he had pressed a panic button.

In a video interview shown to Winchester Crown Court, Simon Hedger-Cooper sobbed as he recalled the moment police informed him that his husband, Guy Hedger, had died following the raid at their home in Castlewood, St Ives.

Mr Hedger-Cooper described how he had gone to bed at about 1am on April 30 after watching the movie X-Men: Apocalypse. Mr Hedger had gone to bed earlier.

He said Mr Hedger, 61, got up at about 3am and as he returned to the bedroom with their dog, Louis, he was followed by two men wearing dark clothing and balaclavas, one armed with a sawn-off shotgun and the other holding bottles of Champagne upside down.

Mr Hedger-Cooper, 48, said: "Guy came back into the room, Louis came first, then a few seconds later this guy came in with a gun and another guy game in holding two bottles of Champagne.

"He told us to lie down on the floor facing the wall.

"I could feel Louis shaking, Guy was touching my little finger with his little finger in order to reassure me.

"I could then hear drawers and boxes being opened, ransacking, going through different things, this went on for two, three to four minutes."

He said one of the raiders, who had been ransacking their belongings, including a Louis Vuitton bag, then said "Where's the ******* safe?"

He continued: "Guy said, 'Ok, ok'.

"He started saying '19', then froze. I picked up my glasses and got up.

"There's a panic button and stupidly I thought it was best to press the panic button.

"At this time I didn't really know what was happening, I didn't know if it was a real gun, I don't know anything about guns.

"But at the same time, they do these things and shoot you anyway, I didn't know what to do."

He added: "All the alarms outside went on and flashing, alarms going off.

"As it happened I heard an almighty boom, shot, and Guy said 'I have been hit, I have been hit'.

"The guy ran out the door and the guy who had been in the dressing room got to the door and said 'I have forgotten the bag' and began stuffing it."

Mr Hedger-Cooper said he then called 999 for police and ambulance and returned to his husband before putting on some clothes to alert some neighbours.

He said: "I then ran upstairs to see Guy and said 'How are you?'.

"He said, 'I am going to be ok, I am feeling cold,' so I put the dog throw over him and got one of our pillows and put it under him."

Mr Hedger-Cooper said that after the police and paramedics arrived he was taken to a neighbour's house where he was informed of his husband's death.

Sobbing, he said: "And then they said that Guy had not made it."

Jason Baccus, 42, and Scott Keeping, 44, both of Verney Close, Bournemouth, along with Kevin Downton, 40, of Winterborne Stickland, near Blandford, all deny murder.

Helen Keeping, 40, from Poole, denies two charges of assisting an offender relating to Baccus by allegedly disposing of stolen property and fellow defendant Keeping by allegedly providing him with a false alibi and disposing of stolen property.

The three male defendants also pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated burglary and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.

Baccus and Downton admit one charge of burglary of industrial premises in Verwood on the same day as the Castlewood incident, but deny another offence of burglary in the same area.

The trial continues.