Jurors will today begin considering their verdict in the Allan Kimber murder trial.

Kimber, 41, of Stert Street, Abingdon, denies murdering Gary Morgan, his ex-wife's new husband, in an act of "revenge" on October 17 last year.

Mr Morgan was shot in the neck yards from his home at Danesbrook Farm, Stanton St John.

Yesterday, prosecutor Neil Moore, closing the case at Oxford Crown Court, said Kimber was "the man with a motive" to kill Mr Morgan, 37.

He said: "This was no chance meeting with his killer. This was a planned encounter."

Mr Moore said Kimber, who was married to Helen Morgan from 2001 until she threw him out of their Bicester home a year later, felt cheated financially and emotionally by the five-times-married Mrs Morgan, who soon set up home with Gary Morgan.

Mr Moore said Kimber brooded on his feelings of bitterness, resentment, jealousy and humiliation, channelling them to plan and prepare the murder.

"He Kimber had helped her clear her debts," Mr Moore said, "only for her to tell him to leave and then watch as a new lodger moves in, they begin a relationship, sell the home and live the life of Riley."

Kimber denied having any strong feelings towards Mr and Mrs Morgan and had told the jury how, on the night of the shooting, he exchanged illegal firearms with a man he knows only as Tosh', whom he later feared might have murdered Mr Morgan.

Mr Moore said: "There's not a single piece of evidence that Tosh even exists and that's despite the defence trying to find him.

"What we have heard about Tosh is of crucial importance to the murder. The handing over of a weapon so close to the scene of the killing about an hour before. This evidence is dynamite.

"The defendant has all the information which could lead to Tosh being found, but did not volunteer it to anyone. If he wanted Gary Morgan's killer to be found, why did he not volunteer this information?

"Surely, if you were an innocent man accused of murder, you would beg the police to search him out, but he did not. He did not even tell his solicitor about him."

When interviewed by police after his arrest, Kimber answered "no comment" to every question.

Mr Moore said: "He wanted to give himself a blank canvas on which he could later paint a picture around the prosecution evidence."

But Kimber's defence team asked the jury to "dig deeper" for their verdict.

Stephen Mejzner said: "If you analyse the amateur psychology of Neil Moore and the tabloid headline-style approach, if you are prepared to dig beneath the surface, a lot of what the prosecution have told you is plainly wrong."

He reminded the jury how Kimber had returned to his "normal self" two to three months after splitting from Mrs Morgan and had no strong feelings about her new relationship.

He also said there had been a number of "odd features" regarding Helen Morgan's behaviour on the night of the shooting and reminded the jury that no forensic evidence had been found linking Kimber to the scene of the crime.

The trial continues.