A MAN jailed for shooting his wife with an air rifle after an argument over a shepherd's pie has won his right to an appeal.

Simon Lee, who comes from Horwich, is currently serving nine years in Garth Prison, Leyland, for attempted murder after shooting his wife Caron twice, once at close range.

He has consistently argued that the shooting was a moment of madness caused by organophosphates - chemicals used in sheepdip from when he worked as an agricultural pest controller.

He says the chemicals are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of farmers through suicide. But at his trial, Judge Mr Justice Levesen dismissed his evidence and the jury found him guilty of attempted murder in 2002.

He is due to be released on June 12 next year.

Now Mr Lee, aged 45, has been granted leave to appeal against conviction, but does not yet know the date of the hearing.

In a letter to the Bolton Evening News, Mr Lee said: "My appeal has been accepted and I have been granted full funding from the Legal Aid Board. I've been told I have a good chance of success and that it will set a precedent in the courts, which is very good news.

"The appeal process takes so long, especially when there are medical issues. My appeal date is anybody's guess and I'm aware it could be years after my release."

The attack happend eight months after Lee and his wife Caron moved from their home in Horwich to Lorton near Cockermouth in a bid to save their marriage. The jury was told that Mr Lee attacked his wife with a table leg and then the air rifle after she told him there was no mince left to make shepherd's pie.

He has campaigned for the last two years to get the medical evidence to mount an appeal and last year a doctor from Taunton, Somerset, assessed Lee and concluded that he had "suffered significant damage from organophosphates".

Brenda Sutcliffe, a campaigner against the use of OPs, said: "I really wish Simon well, even though he is likely to be out of prison before his appeal will be heard, but that's not the point."