Beater shot in 'freak accident'
A MEMBER of a shoot has described the "terrible moment" he realised a beater had been shot in the face.
Businessman Alan Taylor, a former advertising manager at the Lynn News, described how he had shot at a bird as it emerged from the tops of the trees at East Hall Farm, Sedgeford, last month.
Beater David Ellwood (47) emerged bleeding from the wood soon afterwards and said: "I think I've been hit."
Mr Taylor, a director of Docking-based commercial energy company USC, said he was shooting above the tree line and an investigation had concluded the incident was a "terrible, freak accident".
He said: "This was a nice shoot with friends. We were on a drive and I shot at a bird as it came out of the trees. There was nothing negligent or dangerous.
"No-one knew anything was wrong until David walked out of the wood and said he thought he'd been hit.
"The shoot finished immediately and David was attended by a doctor who was on the drive. We called 999 and they sent the air ambulance to take him to hospital."
Mr Taylor said the police had also looked at the circumstances and the incident was being treated as an accident.
He said: "We believe it must have been a ricochet and David was hit by a stray pellet. We follow 100 per cent strict guidelines but this was just an awful, terrible freak accident."
Mr Ellwood, of Hillen Road, South Lynn, suffered damage to an eye and has been receiving specialist treatment at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
He had been a regular beater at drives for more than 20 years and said: "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Mr Taylor said: "The syndicate is doing everything it can to help his recovery. He has suffered temporary loss of vision. I went round to see him and it was typical that he was thinking about how we were feeling rather than himself.
"He has accepted that it was an unfortunate shooting accident."
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
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