A reserve PSNI officer who shot her former lover was sentenced to 12 years in prison today.
Diane Northcott (41), pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Sergeant Laurence Smyth inside a police station in Newtonabbey, Co Antrim.
She shot her colleague in the thigh and neck after confronting him when he ended their two-year relationship in September 2006. Sgt Smyth suffered serious spinal injuries and is now confined to a wheelchair.
At a sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court, Justice Hart said the consequences of Northcott's attack warranted a heavy sentence.
"Of particular significance is the catastrophic nature of the injuries she has inflicted upon Sergeant Smyth, and the extremely grave disability from which he will suffer for the rest of his life," said the judge.
He said it was clear that the mother-of-one had become obsessed with her ex-lover and his decision to end their affair had motivated her attempt to kill him.
"The defendant appears to have been obsessed by him and her relationship with him," he said. "And I am satisfied that it was his desire to bring their relationship to an end that led her to fire the shots in an attempt to kill him."
Justice Hart acknowledged that Northcott was suffering from severe depression and alcohol dependency at the time of the shooting but he rejected a claim that she had a psychiatric condition.
The defence had argued that Northcott had intended to kill herself in front of Sgt Smyth and that she could not explain why she had instead turned the gun on her ex-partner.
The judge said this did not influence his decision.
"Even if it was the defendant's intention to commit suicide when she went to the police station, she has admitted that she attempted to murder Sgt Smyth," he said.
"Given that she had taken the gun from her locker, checked to see if was loaded, pointed the gun at him in the recreation room (of the police station) and shot him in the upper thigh, followed him and fired a second shot which hit him in the back and exited from the right neck/shoulder area, the evidence that she intended to kill him was overwhelming."
Sgt Smyth today hit out at the severity of Northcott’s sentence. “I think 12 years is far too light,” he said. “She’ll do half of that and in six years’ time she’ll walk out while I’ll still be in this wheelchair.”
At an initial sentencing hearing last week, the court heard that Northcott had used a gun the Police Service of Northern Ireland had returned to her after she had handed it in over concerns about her mental stability.
The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland was initially tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting but passed the file back to the PSNI because the part-time Reservist was not on duty when the
incident took place.