A GUNMAN who shot his own grandmother wrote an emotional letter to her from his prison cell.

Yesterday, Jamie Morgan was jailed for 12 years after admitting attempting to murder his 68-year-old grandmother Jean Needham, shooting her in the chest, and possessing a firearm without authority.

Before he was sentenced, Cardiff crown court heard the letter Morgan, 26, had written to Mrs Needham, from Bulwark, Chepstow, while in prison on remand.

Christopher Quinlan, defending, read the letter. It said: "To Nan, what can I say? I am so stupid, I can't believe what I have done. I am so sorry.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me ... when I have done my time I want to devote my life to looking after you. I know you are hurt and angry, please let me make it up to you."

The court heard that on January 5, Morgan, of Ripley Road, Speedwell, Bristol, went to Chepstow to seek out a different family member who had abused him.

Morgan bumped into Mrs Needham, who was shopping, and they spent time together looking through family albums.

After the visit, father-of-two Morgan became upset and went back with the a 1935 self-loading Beretta gun.

Prosecutor Mr Kelly said: "He thought he would go upstairs and demand to know where the family member who abused him was. He said he only intended to scare her (Mrs Needham)."

Morgan shot his grandmother in her left breast and front chest wall into the abdominal cavity. Mrs Needham went to hospital and left the next day without need for an operation. The ball bearing bullet remains in her body.

Mr Quinlan said: "After the incident he returned to Bristol to meet his wife, friends and children, told them what happened and said good-bye. Within minutes he surrendered himself to the police."

Recorder of Cardiff Judge John Griffith Williams said: "You intended to kill your grandmother."

But he said there were "exceptional circumstances" in the case and added: "There is no doubt that as a young boy you were sexually abused by a family member."

The judge said that Morgan, who he described as "genuinely remorseful", had been in a "vulnerable state of mind" that day and had not intended to use the gun, but subjected his grandmother to a "terrifying experience".

After the court hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Gamlin, of Gwent police said: "We are pleased with the sentence given to Jamie Morgan which recognises the seriousness in which this offence was viewed.

"The use of a firearm in a crime is extremely serious and I would like to reassure the public that it's very unusual particularly in the Gwent area, this incident involved around a family dispute."

One of Mrs Needham's neighbours, who asked not to be named, explained the 68-year-old was in ill-health on the day of her grandson's sentencing.

She said: "Jean's just glad that it's all over and that she can put things behind her.

"The whole thing has upset her greatly - particularly as it's her grandson. It has been hanging over her for some time now."