A crossbow murderer who shot a pensioner outside his own home has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 31 years.

Gerald Corrigan, 74, was hit while adjusting the satellite dish outside his Anglesey house in the early hours of Good Friday, April 19, last year. 

Terence Whall, 39, of Bryngwran in Anglesey, denied ever having met his victim and pleaded not guilty to his murder at Mold Crown Court in September 2019, but was convicted following a trial.

Whall was also sentenced to six years on Friday for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by plotting to set fire to his Land Rover Discovery. The burnt-out vehicle’s GPS showed he had been in the vicinity of the victim’s home on the night in question.

He claimed he was in the area because he was having a sexual encounter with a friend.

But the court heard he hid outside the father-of-two’s remote home and waited for him to leave after the Sky signal was interfered with before shooting him with the archaic weapon.

Whall showed no reaction as he was sentenced by judge Mrs Justice Jefford at Mold Crown Court.

Corrigan died in hospital from his injuries on May 11.

The bolt passed through his upper body, narrowly missing his heart, and his right arm.

Corrigan worked as a lecturer in photography and video in Lancashire before retiring to Anglesey more than 20 years ago. 

Following the conviction, Mr Corrigan’s partner Marie Bailey, 64, called for Whall to reveal why he carried out the murder.

She said: “To that sad, twisted, broken soul who murdered him, I say if you have an ounce of humanity, any sense of decency, then you would tell us now why you have done this.”

Bailey had earlier said: “He was my best friend and my soul mate. All the time we have been together I have been proud to walk at his side and he stood beside me, always.”