A man has been convicted of murder after shooting and killing an acquaintance with a shotgun.
Coel Tainton died from a single gunshot wound to his chest after being shot by Jack Preston.
The two men had been socialising hours earlier throughout the evening of Friday 27 February during which time they discussed the sale and purchase of a phone with drug-dealing contacts on it.
CCTV showed the pair together in pubs without any issues before linking up again in the early hours of the following morning (28 February) back at Preston’s home in Ryeland Gardens, The Meadows.
Further footage showed both men walking together to a cashpoint to get money to buy drugs. Within minutes of their return, events took a turn and Preston shot Coel with a double-barrelled shotgun that he had previously stored at the property.
Having pulled the trigger, Preston then moved the shotgun into the back garden before calling 999 at 5.32 am. He informed the call handler at that point that a masked man had burst into his home and shot his friend.
That wasn’t true – something Preston himself later admitted – with the 34-year-old being the only other person inside the address when police and paramedics arrived minutes later to attempt life-saving measures.
Despite their best efforts, 24-year-old Coel was pronounced dead at 6.08am.
When forensically examined, Preston’s DNA was found on the firearm, although he initially claimed that was because he’d grabbed it during a tussle with the imaginary intruder.
His suggestion that someone else had brought the gun into his home started to unravel when police found a video filmed about an hour before the shooting showing Preston handling the gun in front of Coel.
A shopping bag containing shotgun cartridges was also discovered under the stairs.
Preston then completely changed his story in the weeks that followed and insisted he’d acted in self-defence – claiming Coel had tried to rob him with the gun before being shot accidentally in the resulting scuffle.
Having initially been arrested at the scene for attempted murder, Preston was brought into custody, where he went on to assault a police officer.
Preston was duly charged with Coel’s murder, possessing a shortened shotgun and assaulting an emergency worker.
While he admitted to the firearms offence and the assault, Preston denied the murder charge on the grounds that he’d acted in self-defence.
This prompted the need for a Nottingham Crown Court trial, which concluded today (17 September) when a jury found him guilty of murder.
Preston is due to return to the same court next Thursday (24 September) to be sentenced.
Detective Inspector Clare Gibson, of the Major Crime team at East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), said:
“Jack Preston’s decision to keep a loaded shotgun in his home and then fire it in his kitchen were the key factors in Coel Tainton’s death.
“His actions in the early hours of that morning have caused unimaginable pain and torment to all of Coel’s family and friends.
“Preston then augmented their suffering by changing his account of events multiple times and even heartlessly trying to blame Coel for his own death.
“After months of falsely claiming a third party was involved and then stating he’d acted in self-defence, it was pleasing to see the jury reject his version of events and convict him of murder.
“While gun crime is thankfully very rare in Nottinghamshire, as this case sadly shows, even one incident is too many and causes utter devastation to all those affected.
“We hope the sentencing that will now follow provides some small degree of comfort to Coel’s family and friends.”
