A French hunter who accidentally shot and killed a British restaurateur as he cycled in the French Alps has been jailed.
Marc Sutton, 34, who is originally from Caerphilly, Wales, was hit by a bullet fire by the 24-year-old while cycling down a popular route high in the Alps in October 2018.
The hunter, who has not been identified, admitted firing the fatal shot, which he said was intended for a wild boar.
He was jailed for a total of four years but as three of them are suspended he will be locked up for a year.
The hunter has also been banned from owning a gun for five years and from hunting for ten.
According to French broadcasters France3, the hunter broke into tears as the sentence was handed down.
Two other hunters, the father of one who had been on the hunt, and that man's wife, were all given suspended jail sentences ranging from six to 18 months for concealing evidence.
A court heard that they changed hunting logs to make it appear as if they had not been in the area at the time.
They also put up signs after the shooting warning of a hunt to make it seem as if they had taken safety precautions.
Mr Sutton had lived in the Haute-Savoie region of France for four years with his partner Jo Watts.
The couple owned two restaurants, one of them vegetarian, and were well-liked by customers and known by locals.
After Mr Sutton's death tributes poured in for "nice chap" Marc on social media, with one shocked pal saying he was a "top lad" who exemplified "living life to the full".
Miss Watts paid tribute to a "kind, happy, loving man" saying they had shared nine happy years together.
Mr Sutton was heading down a steep but popular cycling route near his home when he was shot and killed by a rifle bullet at around 6.50pm.
An investigation found that he had been wearing high-visibility clothing and that visibility was good at the time.
Investigators blamed a catalogue of safety failings by the "largely inexperienced" hunting party, including them failing to put up warning signs of a hunt in the area.
Prosecutors said the party also failed to nominate a person to be in charge of the hunt, had not established a clear area for their hunt, were hunting within 500ft of homes and had not completed the proper paperwork.
Investigators added that the hunter had not angled the shot towards the ground as is required, but had instead fired straight.
This led to the tragedy because when he missed the shot, the bullet was able to travel far enough to hit Mr Sutton, who had unknowingly cycled into the fatal line of fire.
Frédéric Noetinger-Berlioz, a lawyer for Mr Sutton's family, described the hunters as "pathetic and pitiful" and called the sentence "balanced... in the circumstances".
He added that Mr Sutton's death was not caused by hunting but "delinquent hunters who observed no safety rules".
