A man has been jailed for at least 26 years for a murder he tried to blame on his 14-year-old son.

Tree surgeon Matthew Moseley, 50, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court for shooting dead 32-year-old Lee Holt outside a home near Accrington, Lancashire, last October.

Moseley handed the firearm to his son Thomas, and told him to tell police he was the one that pulled the trigger.

The teenager followed his father's orders and made a fake confession to police.

Moseley remained quiet as his son was led away by police in handcuffs.


Later, however, Thomas changed his account of what happened at the house in Oswaldtwistle.

Even then, his father maintained his innocence.

Image: Lee Holt was shot dead by Matthew Moseley

After a three-week trial, Moseley was found guilty of murder at Preston Crown Court last week.

On Tuesday, he was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum term of 26 years.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Bryan said: "There was no possible justification for your actions, now was there any suggestion that you were acting in self-defence.

"Far from unloading the gun and providing first aid to your victim, you passed the shotgun to your 14-year-old son, Thomas - itself an irresponsible act in the context of an ongoing volatile situation.

"From that moment on, you falsely sought to blame your son for the shooting. How any father could do that to their son is difficult enough to comprehend but what is truly incomprehensible is the cynical way in which you sought to manipulate, and pressurise, your son into accepting responsibility for the shooting and death of Lee Holt."

Image: Mr Holt was fatally shot outside a house in Oswaldtwistle

Mr Holt, 32, had gone to Moseley's home over an ongoing dispute between his partner Kate Phelan's son Wesley Metcalfe, aged 15, and Thomas.

The row had flared up on social media with a suggestion that they might meet for a fight.

Witnesses said Ms Phelan banged on the front windows and Mr Holt kicked the front door as they shouted for the Moseleys to come out.

Moseley then opened the front door and blasted Mr Holt once in the chest with a Beretta semi-automatic shotgun.

Mr Holt's mother, Marilyn, said her son was "supposed to be alive to see his beautiful daughters grow up".

In a statement written in March, she added: "Instead, this opportunity was stolen from him, because of what? Because he knocked on somebody's door too hard when he was trying to help out his partner's son.

"Nobody has apologised and said they are sorry and made a mistake. It makes me wonder: did they think Lee deserved to die at the time?

"Do they still think he did?"