Suicide by air rifle ?

[Guest buster321c]

Former miner used air rifle to shoot himself

Tuesday, November 04, 2008, 11:30

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A DEPRESSED ex-miner died after he shot himself in the stomach with an air rifle.

Ian Brotherhood called the ambulance service after firing the weapon while his elderly parents slept.

An inquest heard how the 47-year-old had threatened to shoot himself with the air rifle two months before.

At the time, police tried to seize the weapon but a licence is not needed to own one.

Coroner Dr Robert Hunter yesterday pledged to write to the Home Secretary to request a review of the laws relating to licences for air rifles.

said: "I don't think people appreciate they can cause serious injuries."

The hearing was told how Mr Brotherhood started drinking heavily after he was injured in an industrial accident, lost his job at the pits and was divorced.

He first threatened to shoot himself on April 22 this year and was detained for an assessment under the Mental Health Act. Derby Coroner's Court heard that police tried to persuade him to give up the weapon, but he refused.

Mr Brotherhood went on to shoot himself in his bedroom at his parents' house in Westfield Road, Swadlincote, on June 15. He later died at Burton's Queen's Hospital.

A statement from Mr Brotherhood's mother, Sylvia, who was asleep downstairs with her husband, Kenneth, when the shot was fired, was read out at Derby Coroner's Court yesterday.

She said her son had married 18 years ago and had a daughter, who was now 25, but that the marriage had broken down 15 years ago.

After the separation he moved in with his parents.

"He never got over the break-up of his marriage," she said.

Mrs Brotherhood said she had seen her son the evening before the shooting, but was not woken by the shot.

"He had been drinking as usual that evening," she said.

"He was in his bedroom watching TV. He came downstairs to get some sandwiches. He seemed quite happy."

She said because of ill health, she and her husband slept downstairs and she was awakened by a police officer shining a torch through the window.

One of the first officers on the scene was PC Paul Simmons, of Derbyshire police's armed response unit.

He said he found Mr Brotherhood lying on his bed with a puncture wound in his stomach.

PC Simmons said that anyone aged over 18 could buy an air rifle, and that a licence was not needed to own one.

"In my personal opinion I think a licence should be required," he said.

Dr Nigel Starey, Mr Brotherhood's GP, said his patient had been involved in an industrial accident in 1998.

He suffered noise-induced hearing loss, pulmonary disease, a disease to his knee and had become alcohol-dependent and depressed.

Dr David Green, consultant pathologist at Derby City General Hospital, said the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage due to a gunshot wound and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, which he said would have affected the blood's ability to clot.

Dr Hunter recorded a verdict of suicide

[maty j 6]

Doesn't really sound like much of a suicide shooting yourself In the stomach

[Guest SJM]

Aye he must have wanted a really grim and painful death

[scothunter 12,609]

Reading that i would reckon it was the drink that caused his demise!

[Tyla 3,179]

i dont get it, how many people a year top themselves with paracetamol? Do the daft bobbys want that banned? ...... NO!

 

But one guy with obvious mental health issues kills himself with an airgun and every Tom, Dick and Harry is bleating for them to be banned? i wonder, .... could there be another agenda?

[the_stig 6,614]

Doesn't really sound like much of a suicide shooting yourself In the stomach

with an air rifle

[Guest buster321c]

Well it sounds terrible to me , how desperate must you be to want to top yourself , and like that !!!

[Timelord 0]

Miners???? What are they??? I thought Margeret Thatcher wiped all miners out???

[scothunter 12,609]

Miners???? What are they??? I thought Margeret Thatcher wiped all miners out???

 

LMFAO

[gazguildford 0]

the guy took his own life i feel for the guy but he didnt go on a rampage and if he didnt use his air rifle then he would of used a rope

[ghillies 209]

hmmm funny that, no f****r got a docter to evaluate him..as such the gun would have been removed?

[Fidgety 8]

He was mentally ill, but it's still a very selfish act! How nice of the coroner to write to the home secretary recommending licences for airguns! W****r !

[camies 1]

A DEPRESSED alcoholic ex-miner died after he shot himself in the stomach with an air rifle. The Coroner Dr Robert Hunter is going to write to the Home Secretary to request a review of the laws relating to licences for air rifles. He apparently said: "I don't think people appreciate they can cause serious injuries."

 

The consultant pathologist said that he died through shock and haemorrhage due to shooting himself and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, which affected the blood's ability to clot.

Come to think about it, I'd be pretty upset if I was stupid enough to shoot myself too!

 

Something had to happen to re awake the whole debate on airgun regulation and licencing and here we have it:- A DEPRESSED alcoholic ex-miner.

 

Bet the press jump on the bandwagon declaring that all airgun owners have suicidal tendancies and must be protected from themselves! I feel a new raft of gun legislation coming to ensure my personal safety.

 

Perhaps if we had been restricted to only using cork pellets this would never had happened.

 

Do I feel sorry for this chump? Not one tiny bit! All I hope is that he doesn't spoil my airgunning like the revised gun laws in the 's did to my pistol shooting.

[Fidgety 8]

 

Well said, just takes one idiot doing this, or another shooting swans in the park and airgun sport will be ruined for thousands of law abiding citizens.

Edited November 5, 2008 by Fidgety

[Guest hyperion]

surely if the police felt that he was a danger to him self or the public they could have taken the weapon??

if he had been threatening to stab him self i bet they would have cleared the house of knives and sharp objects quicker than you could say "public safety"

why couldnt some one just have said sorry chap but i dont think your in the right frame of mind to have that air gun, we'll keep it safe for you for now!

but then i guess that would have been common sense!

cheers

hyperion