Gems raid victim 'died trying to save daughter'

The husband of a grandmother killed by armed robbers told today how she was shot while defending her daughter.

Marian Bates, 64, was hit in the chest at pointblank range after she defiantly stepped in front of a masked raider aiming his pistol at her daughter Xanthe, 33, in a raid on their jewellery shop.

Her husband Victor, 64, said the gunman then went to shoot him, but the gun jammed. He and his accomplice escaped on a moped after grabbing rings worth several thousand pounds from the shop at Arnold, Nottingham yesterday.

Mr Bates said the gunman "was pointing the gun at Xanthe, and Marian jumped in front of her to stop her getting shot. He just pulled the trigger".