A man has been jailed for the rest of his life for a shotgun murder - 39 years after committing another killing.
Ernest Wright shot Neville Corby, 42, in the neck in Bradford, West Yorks. He was also convicted of trying to murder Mr Corby's partner Craig Freear, 31.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the men had rowed after Wright, 68, persuaded Mr Freear's disabled mother to have her benefit money paid into his account.
Wright had already served 26 years of a life term for a murder in 1971.
The jury was unaware of Wright's previous conviction for beating a love rival to death with an iron bar.
Sentencing Wright to a whole-life term, Mr Justice Openshaw said:
"He remains vigorous and, as his actions on this day show, he remains cunning, devious and, in my judgment, highly dangerous."
[...]
While Mr Corby was being attacked by Wright in a bedroom he called out: "Craig, where are you? I'm dying here."
Wright then shot Mr Corby in the neck at close range as his victim crouched in the room.
During the trial the prosecution said the shot was "nothing short of an execution of a defenceless man".
[...]
After the killing Wright went on the run for 30 days and was eventually arrested at a friend's house,
next door but one to his own home.
The trial heard that Wright had befriended Mr Freear's mother, who is disabled and has mental health problems, and persuaded her to have her benefit payments paid into his bank account instead of her son's.
He also moved her from Bradford into a property in Shipley without telling Mr Freear.
In the days leading up to the murder there was a series of confrontations between the three men.
Wright murdered Trevor Hale in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1971 and received a life sentence in 1973.
His minimum term was set at 13 years but he served double that after absconding four times during his sentence.
He was once found sunbathing in a back garden after fleeing during a visit to his sister in 1991.
Ernest Wright.
Neville Corby
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