KILLER Paul Seddon was behind bars today after being jailed for life for gunning down five-year-old Dillon Hull.

Relatives of Bolton schoolboy Dillon wept and shouted "yes" from the court room public gallery when the hired assassin was found guilty of murdering the youngster as he walked hand-in-hand with stepfather John Bates in Bankfield Street, Deane.

Preston Crown Court heard that Seddon, 27, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, had been paid £5,000 to shoot small-time drug dealer Mr Bates, but missed his target blasting Dillon in the head with a single bullet from a black revolver.

As he was led from the dock by two security officers to start a life behind bars, Seddon shouted: "I didn't pull the trigger. It wasn't me." But judge Mr Justice Forbes, describing the contract killer's crimes as "truly appalling", said the gunman had "never shown the slightest remorse" and recommended he serve at least 25 years of a life sentence.

He added: "You brought sudden terror and violence to the residential streets of Bolton on that warm summer's afternoon. You also brought death. Not to your intended victim. You only wounded him.

"You brought death to an innocent little boy who had the tragic misfortune to be holding your target's hand when he opened fire." Two other Bolton men -- David Hargreaves, 24, and Craig Hollinrake, 25, both from Breightmet -- were jailed for 18 years and 16 years respectively for their part in planning the assassination of Mr Bates, who the court heard had refused to sell drugs for a gang in Bolton.

But a fourth defendant, Brian Roper, 22, of Ferndown Road, Harwood, walked free after being cleared of conspiring to murder or cause grievous bodily harm to John Bates.

Outside court after the verdicts, Dillon's aunt Nicola Hull, 27, told the BEN that her family believed justice had been done.

Speaking seconds after relaying news of Seddon's life sentence by telephone to Dillon's mum Jane, she said: "Jane is just glad it is over so she can start her life again."

Choking back tears when asked about her nephew's killer, Ms Hull sobbed: "I'm just glad Paul Seddon will miss out on his daughter's life just as my sister has missed out on her son's life. Now my nephew can finally be laid to rest. Justice has been done for Dillon." Minutes earlier a hushed court room number one, including a public gallery packed with friends and relatives of both Dillon and the accused, waited as jurors filed into court to deliver their verdict after almost 11 hours of deliberations.

A male foreman rose at 2.55pm to tell Mr Justice Forbes that the nine men and three women jury members had reached unanimous guilty verdicts on charges that Seddon had murdered Dillon and attempted to murder the youngster's stepfather John Bates.

Burly Seddon, wearing a yellow shirt, brown trousers and spectacles, shouted: "This isn't justice. I am just a scapegoat."

But Mr Justice Forbes, sentencing him to life for the murder of Dillon and giving him a concurrent jail term of 20 years for the attempted murder of Mr Bates, said the legal system owed it to the public to deal with his crime "with the upmost severity".

He added: "No words of mine can give adequate expression to the horror and revulsion that all decent people must feel at what you have done."

Outside court yesterday, Dillon's grandfather Robert Hull, who is no longer in contact with his daughter Jane, also welcomed the verdict.

He told the BEN: "I think it was the right decision. It's been an appalling time for us and now we've got to try to get back to normality. I still think about my grandson very much."

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