A terminally ill man who was shot in the face by the daughter of his cheating wife's lover said he still loves his wife despite the trio's murder plot.

Ray Weatherall was lucky to survive after Heather Pollard put a bullet through his jaw with a .22 rimfire rifle after laying in wait for him for about five hours at Sandwich Marina.

Pollard, her father Glenn and Ray's wife Hayley Weatherall were each jailed for life yesterday at Maidstone Crown Court.

Yet in an interview with the Sun, Ray said: “I love Hayley, I always have and always will.”

Hayley, 32, and Ray, 53, had married in December 2015 shortly after he had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

The following year he was given only 18 months to live. He was also diabetic and needed daily insulin injections.

Hayley had grown frustrated that her husband had not died, the court heard, and became part of a plot with her lover Glenn Pollard to work out ways to kill Ray.

As well as the shooting, there were efforts to poison him, burn him in an explosion and drown him while out fishing, said the prosecution.

The trio were jailed for a total of 47 years, with Judge Adele Williams describing the plot as an example of "cold, calculated and chilling cruelty".

Ray shrugged off the attempts to kill him, saying he has "managed to survive a lot".

He said: "I feel like a cat with nine lives. I’ve probably only got one or two left the way things have been going. I can still laugh. I ain’t lost my sense of humour.”

Of the shooting at Sandwich Marina, where he had been helping his son Sam fell a tree in November last year, he recalled: "We were having a break and I was rolling myself a fag.

"Suddenly there was an almighty crack and blood started pouring out of my nostrils like a tap.”

If the bullet struck the carotid artery or jugular vein, he would have died. He bled profusely from the mouth, nose and ear.

Yet he said he was “absolutely gutted” at his wife’s sentence.

He said: “I wish I was going to be here long enough to have her back in this house where she belongs. I know people will think I’m crazy.

"If I was looking at it from the outside I’d be saying lock them up and throw away the key.

“But I’d rather Hayley wasn’t locked up at all. In my heart of hearts I am convinced that she was brainwashed by him.

"He wanted my wife. He was my best mate for more than 20 years. Now I just think he’s a low life.

"He’s nothing more than a dirty, rotten, stinking, conniving bastard. But why couldn’t they have just come to me and told me they were having an affair?

"They didn’t have to try to kill me. I’m gutted over the whole situation. I’ve lost my wife, my best friend, for what? He could have waited and had her.”