Daniel Brougham, the man accused of killing his former employer, optometrist Giles Van Colle in November 2000, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey on Monday (March 4). The jury of six men and six women unanimously found him guilty, rejecting the alibi given by Mr BroughamÕs wife Annette. Mrs Brougham Ð a dispensing optician Ð was not in court to see her husband sentenced.Mr Brougham shot the optometrist after being caught stealing equipment, which he planned to use to set up his own practice, according the Cambridge Evening News (March 5). The court heard that Mr Van Colle was killed to prevent him being a key witness in the theft and deception case. Judge Peter Beaumont said: ÔYou took a life and, for that, the law provides but one sentence and that is life imprisonment. It is to mark that fact of not only the enormity of what you did but the fact there is nothing the courts can do or say that can assuage the loss of life or mark the enormity of the grief and emptiness that your actions have caused.ÕMr Van ColleÕs father Irwin told optician: ÔSociety is much better off now that that evil man has been taken out of it. He is positively one of the most dangerous people who has emerged for quite some time. He was praying on the optical profession, and my son was his last victim.Õ Mr Van Colle and his wife took over their sonÕs Mill Hill practice after his death and continue to run it in his memory.