‘Oh my god, he's here’: Teenager recalls moment controlling and jealous stepfather shot her mother dead

Daughter of Cheryl Hooper relives attack outside their home in Newport, Shropshire

Farmer Andrew Hooper is on trial for murder at Birmingham Crown Court (PA)

A farmer who allegedly shot dead his estranged wife “looked like a psychopath” and had “murder in his eyes”, the victim’s teenage daughter told a court.

Andrew Hooper, 46, ambushed 51-year-old Cheryl Hooper in her car outside her home in Newport, Shropshire, after accusing her of having an affair, it is claimed.

He pulled up in the driveway, blocking in her Range Rover Evoque, before blasting her in the neck with a shotgun from a distance of around 5ft, jurors were told.

Describing the attack, Ms Hooper’s daughter recalled her mother screaming and saying: ”Oh my god, he’s here.”

“Mum couldn’t have moved the car even if she had tried,” she told police in her witness interview. ”He looked like a psychopath.

“He had murder in his eyes. I have never seen my mum so scared in all her life.”

Mr Hooper then smashed the car window while the girl was “panicking” and “fumbling” with her phone to call the police.

“I saw him holding a gun,” she said. ”He was properly looking down it. It wasn’t like a lazy shot. It was callous, I could see anger in his eyes.”

She added: “Then he shot her. He waited a few seconds to make my mum realise ‘I’ve got a gun and I’m going to shoot you, I’m going to kill you’.

“He waited long enough for her to think ‘I’m going to die’.”

Mr Hooper, who was described by the prosecution as ”controlling”, “callous” and “evil”, is said to have killed Ms Hooper while “consumed with anger and jealousy”.

Ms Hooper’s daughter said her mother “never cheated” on her husband but said they lived “separate lives” during the marriage before she left him at the end of 2017.

“She told me he never supported her when she needed it,” the teenager told police.

“He struggled with his emotions, which is why he comes across as callous. He doesn’t understand anyone’s feelings but his own.”

On 26 January last year Mr Hooper confronted his estranged wife in The Crown pub in Tettenhall, West Midlands.

He told Ms Hooper: “I’m going to divorce you, for being unfaithful to our marriage”, before adding that he would gather up her possessions and “burn it all”.

The teenager told police: “My mum trusted him too much, I think. She hadn’t been unfaithful.”

On their way home from the pub she heard her mother take a phone call from Mr Hooper which ended with her telling him “F*** you”.

When they arrived home they saw his silver Land Rover Defender pull up behind them.

“Literally, I think he pulled up, saw us, and followed us on to the drive,” the girl said.

Mr Hooper left the scene of the attack and later shot himself with the same gun.

He lost the ability to speak after suffering severe facial injuries and is assisted by an intermediary during the trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Mr Hooper, of Guild Lane, Newport, Shropshire, denies murder.

The trial continues.

Press Association