Prankster shot self in head with 'fake' gun (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Prankster shot self in head with 'fake' gun

2:02pm Wednesday 18th April 2007

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A binge drinker who shot himself in the head during a prank has escaped jail.

Paul Morgan, aged 30, was given an 11-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm and having ammunition without a certificate.

Prosecutor Richard Scott told Blackfriars Crown Court Morgan had found the gun in a bush during a weekend of heavy drinking with friends in Bromley.

Mr Scott said: "He did not think it was a real gun or it was live ammunition.

"He was waving the gun around to prove it was not a real gun.

"He put the gun to the back of his head and fired.

"He heard a loud ringing noise in his ears and found blood on the back of his head."

Staff at the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, removed a 9mm bullet from Morgan's head at 1.40am on September 11 last year.

They alerted police and Morgan was arrested on November 1.

Mr Scott told the court Morgan had told police he thought the gun was a converted Brocock airgun.

This was confirmed by firearms experts, who examined the bullet but never recovered the gun.

Simon Taylor, mitigating, said Morgan should not pay the £250 costs requested by the prosecution as he was unable work because of a heart condition.

Judge John Hillen agreed with this.

The judge said: "The only things which cause me not to send you inside immediately are the peculiar circumstances of the case and that the prosecution based their case on you telling them what happened."

Morgan was sentenced to 11 months in prison on each offence, to run concurrently. Both were suspended for two years.

However, the judge also said he would review the sentence on June 11.

Speaking after the case Morgan, of Saddlers Park, Eynsford, said: "It was an act of stupidity.

"It is time for me to stop fooling about.

"I am a family man now. I have a baby girl who is three-and-a-half months old.

"I watched her mother give birth. It makes you think about what life is about and there is more to life than acting the fool."

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