TWO gamekeepers who paralysed a teenager when they shot at a group of poachers were jailed last Friday.

Jonathan Cannon, aged 56, from Tunbridge Wells, was jailed for three years and Paul Jeffrey, aged 38, from Aylesford, was jailed for two years at Maidstone Crown Court.

On April 17, 2006, they caught a gang of five poachers in a vehicle trying to catch rabbits from their land near stately home Oxon Hoath in Hadlow, Kent.

They pursued the poachers in a 4x4 vehicle and Jeffrey, encouraged by Cannon, took five shots at the poachers' vehicle with a gun which the prosecution said "could bring down big game".

One of the shots hit John Smith in the spine.

The Gravesend resident, who was 16 at the time, will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Sentencing the two men, Judge David Griffith-Jones said: "You both took leave of your senses and lost all reason, with consequences which I suspect will live with both of you for the rest of your lives."

Both were convicted of inflicting GBH.

Jeffrey had pleaded guilty, while Cannon had denied the charge.

They were cleared of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.