An ex-policeman began a jail sentence of 10 years and three months yesterday after an appeals court in Athens found him guilty of murdering a Gypsy man while on duty at a roadblock five years ago.

The court, by a majority decision, found Giorgos Tylianakis guilty of murder. Tylianakis, 36, who has been dismissed from the police force, denied killing 21-year-old street trader Marinos Christopoulos on purpose.

The incident occurred in October 2001 when Christopoulos drove through a roadblock in Zephyri, northwestern Athens. Tylianakis maintains that he fired a warning shot over Christopoulos’s car but he hit the street trader in the back of the head. The court prosecutor asked for the former officer’s charges to be reduced to involuntary manslaughter but the court ruled that the shot he fired had been too low and dangerous.

The lawyers of the victim’s family said this was a landmark ruling as it was the first time a police officer has been found guilty of committing murder while on duty.