The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Three years for man who killed great-grandson
Court: Boy shot while 78-year-old checked air rifle
A 78-year-old man has been jailed for three years after he shot his six-year-old great-grandson dead as he checked his unlicensed air rifle.
Albert Grannon discharged the .22 calibre weapon into football-mad Stanley Metcalf ’s stomach during a family gathering at his home in Sproatley, East Yorkshire, in July last year.
Sheffield Crown Court heard the youngster said “You shot me, Grandad” as shocked relatives responded to the sound of a loud bang in the house.
Grannon admitted manslaughter at a previous hearing.
The pensioner showed no emotion as the judge, Mr Justice Lavender, said he had no choice but to jail him.
The judge told Grannon: “You ended a young life and you brought lifelong grief and misery to his parents
“What you did was obviously a very dangerous thing to do”
and to family.
“What you did was obviously a very dangerous thing to do. Why on Earth did you do it?”
Earlier, John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, told the court the boy said: “You shot me, Grandad.”
The court heard Stanley’s extended family had been split by the incident and some relatives, including his parents, sat in the court itself while others were in the overhanging public gallery.
Earlier, Stanley’s mother, Jenny Dees, said of the defendant, who is her grandfather: “Not once did he say sorry. Now if he did, it would be meaningless.”
Outside court Ms Dees said she accepted that her grandfather now felt remorse but she said he had not expressed it to her.
Paul Genney, defending, the whole of his told the court that, despite the views of Stanley’s parents, Grannon “blames himself totally”.
Earlier, the court heard the air rifle needed a firearms certificate because of its power.
Prosecutors said Grannon knew he needed a licence for the weapon, which he had had modified, but knew he would not get one because an old injury to his right hand meant he could only fire it with his left. He is right-handed.
Mr Elvidge told the court Stanley had asked his greatgrandfather if he could see the gun, which Grannon used for shooting vermin.
The prosecutor said the defendant kept the gun in a cupboard with a curtain over it and it was normally left loaded.
Mr Elvidge said the pellet from the .22 rifle had gone all the way through, severing an artery.
Stanley’s condition deteriorated in the ambulance and he died within two hours.
Mr Genney said: “He (Grannon) held the rifle and checked by squeezing the trigger to see if it was loaded, while pointing the rifle at the child but not, of course, deliberately.”