A pensioner mum and her son who murdered a man after a dispute over him running on their footpath have been jailed for life.
Carol Dawson, 72, and her son Scott, 41, were guilty of murdering Gary Dean after a long running dispute over a piece of their land Mr Dean would regularly use to go running and for other activities.
Scott was jailed 31 years and his mother to 26 years - with neither showing any reaction as they were told the length of their sentences.
Mr Dean was found dead in a ditch in woods near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, after the sick mother and son duo shot him in the back with an air rifle and brutally beat him with rocks and branches in September last year.
The court heard that the Dawsons intended to return and dispose of the body with a digger, before it was discovered by a walker.
Sentencing Judge Jeremy Richardson said the murder was executed with “brutal determination” adding “Gary Dean suffered terribly... savagely beaten and shot with an air rifle.”
Mr Richardson added: "Gary Dean was a much loved man and a vulnerable individual due to his autism.
"You two on the other hand with filled with venom. You lost all sense of proportion and became envenomed with a desire for revenge.
"The venom within each of your characters permeated each other to make a truly toxic situation.
“You both fed of off the venom within each other. This toxic situation led to murder.”
Mr Dean's headteacher wife, Caroline, previously told a jury how she and her husband were terrorised in the run up to his murder, with their house in Barnsley daubed with offensive graffiti.
The Dawsons also falsely accused Mr Dean of attempting to lure children into the woods with him.
Mrs Dean said she and her husband were regularly followed and threatened and described how four youths burst into their home, injuring both of them.
The jury heard how the dispute over the path had also involved the Dawsons complaining to police about Mr Dean, saying he was damaging their property, and they secured a restraining order against him.
A "stay away" sign had been posted on a stile leading to the path, the court heard.
Giving evidence, Mrs Dean, who is the head at Hunningley Primary School, told the court that her husband was "quite autistic in his nature" and was obsessive about running and trains.
She explained how he often used an area called Bagger Wood and even built comedy scarecrows among the trees.
Mrs Dean said serious problems began at the end of 2016 when she woke one morning to find her car and house daubed with graffiti saying "stay away Baz", "paedo" and other offensive comments.
Scott Dawson, of Barnsley, and Carol Dawson, of Barnsley, showed no emotion as the foreman of the jury read out the guilty verdicts with Mrs Dean looking on the from public gallery above.
