‘Drink and loaded guns definitely don’t mix,’ says QC
THE absence of sensible gun handling procedures led to the death of teenager Peter Colwell in a Gwynedd car park, a jury has heard.
The 18-year old was shot dead with a black semi-automatic shotgun while sitting in the back of a Land Rover close to the Ship Inn at Llanbedrog, near Pwllheli, just after midnight on February 5 last year.
Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers, who carried out a post-mortem examination told how the teenager, who was on a night out with friends, had died instantly from a single wound to the lower left hand side of the face.
A hooded top he was wearing had taken some of the shot, but the medic found pellets in his scalp.
Two men, Ben Andrew Wilson, 29, now of Ely, Cambridge, who is said to be the gun owner and Benjamin George Fitzsimons, 23, of Nanhoron near Pwllheli, who allegedly set off the gun, deny gross negligence manslaughter and are standing trial.
Wilson, who wasn’t in the car at the time the shot was fired, has pleaded guilty to unlawfully having a loaded shotgun in a public place.
The jury at Caernarfon Crown Court were today shown the weapon in question by prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC, who said “drink and loaded guns definitely don’t mix.”
He said three of the men spoken to in the pub car park following the incident were breath tested by police at around 2am that day.
Ben Fitzsimons gave a reading of 63 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath. The legal limit for motorists is 35 although he wasn’t driving that night.
Wilson was well under the drink drive limit while a third man, Harry Robert Shane Butler, 23, of Llaniestyn, Pwllheli, who is charged with possessing a loaded shotgun in a public place, which he denies, was just under the drink drive limit.
Fitzsimons’ brother Michael, 25, of Nanhoron near Pwllheli also denies a charge of unlawfully having a loaded shotgun in a public place.
The jury heard the group had earlier been to the St Tudwal’s Hotel in Abersoch where they bought several rounds of drinks before moving to the Ship Inn, Llanbedrog, where they drank more alcohol. They were said to be in “good spirits” and “well behaved” in both pubs.
Mr Harrington said: “The complete absence of sensible handling procedures by Ben Fitzsimons in the front of the car that night led to the death of Peter Colwell.
“Ben Wilson was totally wrong to have allowed people to travel in his vehicle with what he knew to be a loaded shotgun leaning backwards into the back of the car.”
Wilson has pleaded guilty to unlawfully having a loaded shotgun in a public place.
Calling the first witness the jury heard Ben Fitzsimons, Wilson, Harry Butler and Peter Colwell were all gamekeepers on the 4,000 acre Boduan Shoot near Pwllheli.
Wilson at the time was close to his employer who had a state-of-the-art gun store.
Amy Garton, wife of shoot owner Jonathon, said the first they heard of the incident was when Wilson called them shortly after midnight.
She said the call came at 12.17am and Wilson wanted to speak to her husband. After speaking on the phone, her husband, got dressed and left to go to the scene.
A few minutes later she received a further call from Wilson. He wanted her to do him a favour.
“He wanted me to go to the property and remove the guns he had left out. He mentioned a rifle and a shotgun.
“He said he was worried and I reassured him all would be sorted out,” she said. Mrs Garton added she had no intention of going to the house.
Wilson, her husband said, was a “good gamekeeper, enthusiastic and good at his job”. He was the holder of appropriate licences for the holding of firearms. Mr Garton said he had hoped Wilson would take on the role of gamekeeper at a new shoot they had rented elsewhere in Gwynedd.
Asked about the use of guns by Wilson, Mr Garton said he had never gave him cause for concern about his use of guns.
Wilson, Butler and Ben Fitzsimons were arrested by police at the scene. Michael Fitzsimons had walked away and he was arrested later the jury heard.
The trial continues.