An artist who made his name painting "beautiful blonde girls on park benches" last night won Britain's richest art prize, the Beck's Futures Award.

Artists can be a nasty lot, especially when big money prizes are at stake. Mostly though, they draw the line at murder. But not John Russell. Last night the painter pulled a revolver on his partner, Fabienne Audeoud, and shot her - what he wanted, it turned out, was the £65,000 Becks Futures prize.