Woman shot as sex game went wrong
AWOMAN suffered life-threatening internal injuries after being shot when a sex game involving a gun went horrifically wrong.
David Jeffers, 47, has been jailed for 10 years after admitting he placed a loaded shotgun inside the woman’s vagina at the Britannia Hotel in Offerton, Stockport. The weapon went off accidentally, leaving her fighting for life.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had previously spoken of having a sexual fantasy involving having a gun placed inside her.
The pair met at about 8pm on January 30, and had both taken cocaine and drunk spirits.
They participated in consensual sex before taking part in the sex fantasy, which prosecutor Peter Wright QC described as ‘highly reckless and dangerous conduct’ but it was accepted he did not deliberately pull the trigger.
The weapon was described as an ‘antique’ shotgun, the size of a small handgun, which fired .410 pellets and ‘usually used to kill vermin.’
Mr Wright said Jeffers ‘panicked’ after the gun went off and tried to call 999, instead hitting nine and being put through to the hotel’s reception.
He anonymously told the hotel’s night manager urgent medical assistance was needed, fled the hotel and left the woman for dead.
He said he dumped the weapon, which has never been recovered, in a bin somewhere in Stockport.
In the early hours he travelled to Piccadilly station and boarded an early morning train to Leeds, where he is from.
The hotel manager found the woman lying naked on the bed.
She told him: “I’ve been shot. I’m in agony. I’m going to die.”
Paramedics raced to the hotel after the manager called 999. She was rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary where doctors managed to save her life.
The shot had fired multiple gunshot pellets and caused significant injury to her bladder, vagina and uterus.
She later told doctors: “He tried to kill me. He shot me. The man was a bad man. He blew my insides out.”
Following the incident police found Jeffers’ DNA on a glass.
They used CCTV to follow his movements to Piccadilly station and then to Leeds.
Officers visited an address belonging to a member of his family and found a phone which contained old text messages discussing a weapon.
They raided another address in Amberton Court, Leeds where Jeffers was arrested.
After the incident he changed his appearance by cutting his dreadlock hairstyle and changing his facial hair.
He said this was because he was preparing for being arrested.
Jeffers first said he found the gun in the toilets of the Wetherspoons pub at Leeds station, saying he decided to give it to the woman he was planning to meet for her to hand in. Later he said he had found it in the woods.
Initially he also claimed the woman had ‘unilaterally’ decided to place the weapon herself, a claim which was ‘inherently implausible,’ Mr Wright said.
Defending, Oliver Saxby QC said Jeffers regretted his actions, and felt embarrassed and shameful.
He was initially charged with attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm, but the prosecution offered no evidence for those charges.
A basis of plea was submitted in which he accepted possessing the gun and placing it in the woman’s vagina. He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Judge John Potter said the woman was “lucky to survive the horrendous injuries”.
He said a victim impact statement, not read out in court, made for ‘difficult and harrowing reading’ adding: “Her daily life is significantly compromised and it appears she faces the prospect of further surgery.”
Jeffers blew a kiss to members of his family sat in the public gallery as he was sent down.