AS police begin a review into the death of a dad more than 25 years ago, his family say they believe a third man was involved in the killing.

Father-of-five Tony Alliss, 40, died after being shot in woods near King’s Stanley on July 26, 1990 following a land dispute with neighbours.

His son, Leigh, who was 14 at the time, was also shot.

In 1991, Mr Alliss’ neighbour Terence Maule and his son Graig were acquitted of murder due to insufficient evidence during a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Since then the Alliss family has campaigned for the case to be re-opened.

Last week, Gloucestershire police announced that it was launching a review to search for new evidence.

Speaking to the SNJ, Leigh revealed that the family believe a third man was involved in the killing, which happened in Penn Wood.

Leigh said: “Without a shadow of a doubt there was a third person involved. I brought this up to the police at the time and I’ve brought it up again, but they’ve always said there is no evidence.

“I have the man’s name and we want this review to look into this.”

The shooting happened after Terence and Graig Maule saw Tony Alliss taking down fences they had put up in Penn Wood, and went to confront him armed with guns.

Mr Alliss had bought the woods to gain access to his property, Beechwood Cottage, but there was a dispute over the land.

Terence Maule said a struggle ensued in which Graig was pushed to the ground after Mr Alliss tried to grab the gun.

The gun went off, hitting Mr Alliss, who staggered down the track and died. Terence Maule went to call for an ambulance.

The Maules said they had taken the guns into the woods in self-defence.

Graig insisted his gun went off accidentally when he shot Leigh, who went to see what had happened after hearing the gunshot.

Leigh’s said: “There was a little track where my father’s body was and if I had gone down there I would have run straight into his killers.

“At this point I didn’t know my father had been shot, but something didn’t feel right and I decided to go down another bit adjacent to the path.

“I started to hear whispering voices and I crouched down in the long grass near a cracked plum tree, I still couldn’t see much because it was very dark.

“One of the voices called my name and asked me to come here.

 “I was climbing over a barbed wire fence when someone started shooting.

“I felt hot air and hot metal hit my arm and it just snapped backwards.

“That’s when I started running for my life, I was tensing my back the whole time expecting something to hit me

“There were definitely two people doing the shooting.

“I ran straight into the arms of a schoolteacher, John Graham. He asked me who was doing the shooting. John said it can’t be Terry because he’s been at my house calling an ambulance.

“It was then that I realised there must have been a third person.

“I was taken to John’s house so I could have my arm checked out but no one would give me access to my family, I still didn’t know dad was dead. My thoughts turned to my dogs who had run off when the shooting started and I didn’t know where they were so I went looking for them.

“I saw a guy in a Red Fiesta and when I walked past him he looked at me in a very strange way, muttering and cursing.

“Later on I asked police what he was doing here and they said they picked him up for drunk and disorderly but I was very confused about why he was there.

“Why would you take him along to a crime scene?

“I believe to this day it was him who shot me and I wouldn’t be surprised if he shot my dad as well.”

For background on the case click here