Man jailed for shooting wife's 'revenge porn' lover Published duration 15 December 2015

image copyright North Yorkshire Police image caption Robert Ellerby was jailed for 27 months for firing a gun and causing actual bodily harm

A man who shot his wife's lover, who had posted a "revenge porn" photograph of her on Facebook, has been jailed.

Robert Ellerby, 44, "blasted" Scott Watmuff when he turned up at the couple's marital home.

Watmuff had refused to remove the intimate shot of Ellerby's wife Rubbina, uploaded shortly before the confrontation, a court heard.

Ellerby, who admitted a firearms offence and causing actual bodily harm, was jailed for 27 months.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Watmuff and Mrs Ellerby had rented a flat together after starting an affair.

'No excuse'

After he ended the relationship, the court heard, Mrs Ellerby returned to her marital home and Watmuff demanded she repay half of the deposit.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said Watmuff posted an intimate photo of Mrs Ellerby online before going to the house and would not remove it, despite pleas to do so.

Watmuff, who had been drinking, smashed a window of his ex-lover's car and banged heavily on the door of the house, bruising his hand.

Ellerby, of Chapel Lane in Sawdon, Scarborough, opened the window of an attic room and fired his shotgun into the ground, close to the back of Watmuff's right leg.

The court heard how Ellerby had leaned out of the window and "blasted" Watmuff, who was jailed last month for a revenge porn offence.

Judge Stephen Ashurt said there was no justification for the shooting.

"Breakdowns of relationships usually do create tensions but they can never be resolved by threatening another with, let alone discharging, a loaded weapon because of the obvious risks," he said.

"Even if Scott Watmuff was an unsavoury character, you were not justified in shooting at or towards him."