A businessman has been found guilty of luring his wife’s secret lover to a remote farm in south-west Wales before “executing” him. Andrew Jones shot dead his old friend, Michael O’Leary, at a farm in Carmarthenshire after finding out he was having an affair with his wife, Rhianon. Jones burned O’Leary’s remains, reading from an old funeral service as the flames consumed his friend’s body. He tried to get away with the crime by making O’Leary’s disappearance look like suicide. Jones, 53, of Carmarthen, claimed that O’Leary died when a rifle accidentally went off as they scuffled but a jury at Swansea crown court found him guilty of murder. The court heard that on the evening of 27 January Jones, a father of three, took his wife’s mobile phone and posed as her to entice O’Leary, 55, to the farm with the promise of a “cwtch” – a cuddle. Instead, when he arrived, O’Leary found Jones crouched behind a dustbin armed with a .22 Colt rifle. Jones opened fire and then drove his victim’s car to a riverside where he sent messages, purporting to be from O’Leary, to his friend’s wife and three sons, saying “I am so sorry x”. Jones put on O’Leary’s shoes and walked down to the river to make it look like he had jumped in. Jones, who ran farming and building businesses, cycled back to the farm and drove O’Leary’s body to his home in Carmarthen, where he destroyed it. He told the jury that he found an old funeral service so he could give a reading as he burned the body. Jones said: “I wanted to say a few words, because I can’t remember the Lord’s prayer off by heart, and then I lit the fire and went to sit in the car. I left the fire to burn all the way down to the floor whilst sitting in the car.” O’Leary’s body has never been found and forensic scientists only recovered a small piece of his intestine from the site of the fire in a yard next to his home. Suspicion fell on Jones after he was spotted with a scratch on his face. Writing the fake suicide note in English rather than in Welsh also suggested foul play. Dyfed-Powys police arrested Jones and he admitted luring O’Leary, a site manager and rugby club stalwart, to the farm. But Jones claimed his friend died after the gun – taken from his collection of legally held weapons – went off during a struggle. He told the jury he took the “scariest” looking gun from his collection to “frighten” O’Leary. He said: “I wanted him to get the message – stay away from us. I wanted to shame him.” He claimed that O’Leary “lunged” for the weapon and it went off as he tried to pull it away from him. Jones broke down in tears in court as he described his long friendship with O’Leary. He claimed that he panicked after O’Leary was shot and thought it better for his friend’s family if they thought he had taken his own life rather than died in an accident. Prosecuting, William Hughes QC, told the court that Jones had plotted the ambush intending to “execute” O’Leary. The trial judge, Mrs Justice Jefford, told the court that Jones would be jailed for life but that a minimum term he must serve before being eligible for parole would be set at another hearing.