A JEALOUS man who blasted his former boyfriend in the stomach at point-blank range could be facing a life sentence.

Tim Williams was cleared of attempted murder on Thursday but had admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and two charges of possessing a firearm without a licence.

A judge adjourned sentence on the 50-year-old for psychiatric reports so that the question of dangerousness could be addressed.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Williams had been unable to accept the end of his long relationship with Luke Deards.

He lured Mr Deards to a houseboat at Stargate Marina in Hoo they had shared and took terrible revenge.

Mr Deards, 27, suffered extensive internal injuries that left him in a coma, close to death, for three weeks. His left leg had to be amputated below the knee.

Williams later told police that he had only meant to injure Mr Deards to stop him having sex with other men.

The two men had started a relationship in 1996. They lived together in Cranbrook, where Williams ran The Camden Arms pub. They moved to a houseboat in Vicarage Lane, Hoo, in 2003.

Mr Deards started a job working nights as a croupier in London and they spent more time apart. Unemployed Williams started to drink heavily and the relationship deteriorated.

They parted in June last year and Mr Deards moved into a caravan at the marina, leased by his father Robert, about 200ft from the boat.

Williams became suicidal and jealous of other men Mr Deards was seeing.

On August 25 last year, Williams lured Mr Deards to the boat. He sat down and Williams suddenly produced the gun and shot him.

Mr Deards was taken to the Medway Maritime Hospital at Gillingham and was then transferred to St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

Meanwhile, armed police arrived at the marina and negotiated with Williams for more than five hours before he gave himself up.

Cairns Nelson, prosecuting, said Mr Deards was concerned that when Williams was finally released, he was not allowed to go near him or the marina.

Michael Haynes, defending, said Williams wanted Mr Deards to hear his expression of regret.

Adjourning sentence until May 26, Judge Andrew Patience, QC, said on Friday: "I am sorry I cannot deal with this today, but it is a matter of complexity and it must be done right."