A GAMEKEEPER has been found guilty on Tuesday December 11 of unlawfully having a loaded shotgun in public, but two other men cleared of the charge, following the fatal shooting of teenager Peter Colwell in a 4x4 vehicle.

On day 16 of a trial at Caernarfon crown court, and after more than 18 hours of deliberation, the jury foreman announced they had found Ben Fitzsimons, 23, of Nanhoron, Pwllheli, guilty.

But his brother Michael Fitzsimons, 25, also of Nanhoron, and Harry Butler, 23, of Llaniestyn, Pwllheli, were cleared of the single firearms count against them which they denied.

The jury was sent home for the night after failing to reach a verdict on a manslaughter charge against Ben Fitzsimons, who allegedly discharged the weapon in a Land Rover Discovery in a pub car park at Llanbedrog, in February last year. The manslaughter through gross negligence allegation is also denied by gun owner Ben Wilson, 29, of Ely, Cambridge, who wasn’t in the vehicle at the time. No verdict has been reached for him on this charge although he has pleaded guilty to having the gun unlawfully in public.

When he opened the prosecution case, QC Patrick Harrington said : ”The killing was neither deliberate nor malicious. But a young man died as the result of the cavalier disregard of the fundamental rules of gun safety by Ben Wilson and Ben Fitzsimons.”

Mr Colwell, 18, a gamekeeper on the Boduan estate near Pwllheli, died when the gun went off as he sat in the back of the 4x4.

The trial continues.