THE family of a security guard who died as a result of gunshot wounds have expressed their disgust that the gunman was let out to do it again. Barry Madle who worked as a security guard for Leos supermarket in Great Dunmow was shot in the leg, aged 56, wh

THE family of a security guard who died as a result of gunshot wounds have expressed their disgust that the gunman was let out to do it again.

Barry Madle who worked as a security guard for Leos supermarket in Great Dunmow was shot in the leg, aged 56, while trying to stop a gang stealing £20,000 in cash during an armed robbery at the store in 1993.

Mr Madle died two years later of stomach cancer - which the family believed was brought on by the horrific injuries he suffered as a result of the shooting.

Due to a loophole in the law at the time, the robber who shot Mr Madle with a shotgun, was never convicted of murder as Mr Madle died more than 'a year and a day' after the robbery.

Valentine was instead jailed for 18 years for robbery and attempted murder and eventually released in 2005.

The law, which prevented Valentine from being convicted of murder was scrapped in

1996, but the law was not retrospective before 1996 so the Madle family felt they would never get justice.

But on Tuesday Valentine was jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering 22-year-old John Ward at the victim's home in St Osyth in March 2006.

He will now serve a minimum term of 30 years.

On hearing the news Mr Madle's eldest sister, Maureen Joslin, 75, who lives in Chelmsford said she was relived but also angry about the verdict.

Speaking on behalf of the Madle family she said: "At long last he has been put away. He really was a thug and a thug is always a thug.

"Justice has not really been done, as he should never have been let out to do the same crime again.

"I am relieved that he has now been jailed for the rest of his life and hopefully this time he will stay in, from our point of view he didn't get sufficient punishment in the first place.

"We had no say in his conviction or his release now we are left saying how angry we are that he has done it again.

"As a result of being shot, we felt that it brought on

his cancer and that killed him," she said.

"We felt very bitter about the fact that he got away with it and so we are relieved that he has got his just deserts. It's a relief not to have that sort of person in society."

During the robbery in 1993 Valentine had pointed a sawn-off shotgun at Mr Madle. But the 56-year-old security guard hit Valentine with a box and ran off, only to be shot in the leg.

He lost five pints of blood, spent months in hospital and could only walk with the aid of a crutch. The shotgun pellets shattered his leg and he lost more than three stone after having part of his stomach removed.

Mr Madle was regarded as a hero when he received the Essex Police Bravery Award from Chief Constable John Burrows.

He died from stomach cancer in Broomfield Hospital near Chelmsford in August 1995.