A DISABLED mother who was shot by her son before he killed himself had no wish to die, a coroner has found.

Jean Blakey, 55, was shot in the head with a shotgun by her son Ian, 34, in a secluded wood near a golf club 20 minutes after he picked her up to go shopping.

He also killed one of his pet lurchers in the car before calling police and finally turning the gun on himself shortly before lunchtime on Saturday, April 28.

At their inquests today (NOV 27), County Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle heard that Mrs Blakey relied on a wheel chair having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and that her son killed her because he was sick of seeing her suffer.

But friends and family, including Ms Blakey’s partner of 26 years Harry Mawson, said she had enjoyed life and never expressed a wish to die.

Their bodies and the shotgun were found in Mr Mawson’s Peugeot van just half a mile from their homes on the Watergate Estate in Crook, County Durham.

Mr Tweddle’s recorded a verdict that Mrs Blakey was unlawfully killed and Mr Blakey took his own life.