Man guilty of door-knock shooting

Man guilty of door-knock shooting

A 63-year-old Cumbrian man who shot a drunk teenager in the face because he said he thought he was a burglar, has been found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.

Paul Evans, 19, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was left blind in his left eye, which later had to be removed, following the shooting by Anthony Spray on 2 November, 2002.

A jury at Lancaster Crown Court reached a unanimous guilty verdict after five hours deliberating.

They found Spray, who is celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, not guilty of another charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.

The court was told that Mr Evans had driven to Broughton-in-Furness, for a family birthday and had been drinking at the High Cross Pub, next to Spray's bungalow.

Mr Evans had been listening to music in his car outside the pub when he left his vehicle to urinate in a nearby lane.

On returning Mr Evans mistakenly confused Spray's L-shaped bungalow to the L-shaped pub where the trainee engineer had a room booked for the night.

Sentencing adjourned

The retired businessman was woken up by banging on his door and got his .22 calibre air rifle, which he had bought to shoot rabbits off his vegetable patch.

He loaded it and took it with him into the hall, at which time the door opened and Mr Evans moved forward.

As Mr Evans approached the hall, Spray fired the gun.

Sentencing was adjourned until 16 May.

Spray was released on bail on condition that he co-operates with the probation service in preparing pre-sentence reports.

On leaving court with his wife, Patricia, Spray said: "I am relieved that some of the stress is over.

"We would like to go away and celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary which is today."