THREE men from Dorset are among a group of five jailed for conspiracy to murder.

Colin Deferia, aged 60, of Battisford Road, Barking; Simon Webber, aged 32, of Sydenham Close, Bridgwater, Somerset; Frank Warren, aged 52, of Victoria Road, Dorchester; Andrew Seaton, aged 40, of Frome View, Maiden Newton, Dorchester; and Paul Baker, aged 35, of Neils View, Maiden Newton, Dorchester; were all sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.

They were sentenced to a combined jail term of 112 years.

The five had all denied the charge of conspiracy to murder, but were found guilty at the crown court on Friday, June 3 following an eight-week trial, as reported in the Dorset Echo. Webber, Warren and Seaton were also convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm (a sawn-off shotgun).

On Tuesday, August 4 last year, at 6.45pm in the evening, officers were called to reports that a man had been shot at an address in Forum Court. The victim, aged in his thirties, sustained significant gunshot wounds to his chest and required life-saving surgery to remove multiple pellets.

A short while later that same evening, a burnt-out car was discovered on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds in Rushbrooke Lane. This contained a sawn-off shotgun which, following forensic examination, was found to have been used in the crime.

Colin Deferia was arrested by police in the early hours of the following morning. Detectives then identified further suspects with links to Deferia and on Saturday, August 8, Andrew Seaton and Paul Baker were arrested by Dorset Police officers, on behalf of Suffolk Police. Frank Warren was arrested in Dorset on Wednesday, August 12.

A Suffolk Police spokesman said through interrogation of mobile phone data, Automatic Number Plate Recognition and CCTV enquires, detectives were able to prove that Simon Webber, Frank Warren and Andrew Seaton had travelled to Bury St Edmunds from the south-west of England on the day of the attack.

Forensic evidence linked Webber to the block of flats with his fingerprint being found on a communal door. DNA analysis was then able to show that Webber had the victim’s blood on his footwear, linking him directly with the shooting.

Warren and Seaton assisted Webber in carrying out the attack, with Seaton driving the stolen getaway car parked nearby. Passive data analysis suggested that Webber was responsible for stealing the car and also the number plates it was carrying.

Paul Baker’s role in the conspiracy was to act as a conduit between Deferia and the other three men – essentially ‘hiring’ them to carry-out the attack.

At court today, the five men were given the following prison sentences:

-       Colin Deferia, 26 years

-       Simon Webber, 23 years

-       Frank Warren, 23 years

-       Andrew Seaton, 23 years

-       Paul Baker, 17 years

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Millar of the Major Investigation Team, said: "This was a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to murder an innocent man, all because of a grudge held against him by Colin Deferia.

"Deferia hired the other four men to carry-out this attack and between them they thought they had planned the perfect crime. This included making false calls to police in the months before the attack insinuating that the victim was involved in criminality; to stealing the car, number plates and weapon used to carry the attack out.

"This was an investigation that took us across the country and we are grateful to a number of other police forces and agencies who assisted us with our enquires.

"A dedicated team of detectives and support staff worked extremely hard in the opening days of this inquiry, using all of the modern investigative tools at their disposal, and the fact that just over a week after the attack occurred all five of these men had been identified as suspects and arrested, is testament to the efforts of everyone involved.

"The victim of this attack required life-saving surgery and was extremely fortunate that the gunshot did not fatally wound him. I hope that the sentences given to these five men today enable him to begin the process of moving on with his life following this terrifying ordeal.”