Pellet death lad was hit in stomach

A SIX-year-old boy who died from a pellet gun injury suffered a hole to the side of his stomach, a coroner has heard.

Stanley Metcalf was found fatally injured at a house in Sproatley, East Yorkshire, on July 26.

The boy, who was visiting family, was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary, where he died at around 5.30pm the same day.

An inquest was opened and adjourned at Hull coroners court yesterday.

No family were at the brief hearing, during which senior coroner Professor Paul Marks was told that a postmortem had revealed the cause of death as “airgun projectile wound to abdomen”.

Detective Sergeant Julian Gibbs of Humberside Police said the force were called by the ambulance service.

He said: “Stanley Metcalf was found to have a small hole to the side of the abdomen.”

The force said early indications pointed to it being a “tragic accident involving a pellet gun”.

DS Gibbs revealed that an investigation is still “at the early stages”.

Prof Marks called it “sad and tragic” and adjourned the inquest for a date to be set.