Friend who intervened in families' dispute was shot with air rifle

Philip Hoban still has the pellet inside him two years later because doctors felt it would cause him more damage to remove it, Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.

Mr Hoban was at home on December 27, 2007, when a friend, Dean Smith, arrived, complaining his car had been vandalised.

Mr Smith and his family had for some time been in a "feud" with Ian Richard Cawood and his family over various incidents and wanted Mr Hoban to go round to see them, blaming them.

Mr Hoban agreed to do so and went to the Cawood's address where he spoke to Ian Cawood through a window, said Katherine Robinson prosecuting.

Mr Smith entered the garden and began arguing and Cawood produced a knife with a 12-inch blade. Mr Hoban was moving away when he looked and saw Cawood at an upstairs window with an air rifle and, as he left, felt pain to the right side of his back and realised he had been shot.

At Pinderfields Hospital, in Wakefield, it was discovered the pellet was lodged at the back of his chest.

Police recovered the air rifle, pellets and knife from Cawood's home but at that time he denied shooting the other man.

Philip Standfast, defending, told the court that whatever the rights and wrongs of the dispute Cawood had felt scared when he saw Dean Smith outside with Mr Hoban, a man of some stature who was a cage fighter with entries about him on the internet and YouTube.

He accepted picking up the knife to frighten them off and thought Mr Hoban was trying to find a weapon so then picked up the .22 air rifle which he had legitimately.

Since then the situation for the family had improved, as Mr Smith was now serving a six-year sentence for grievous bodily harm and Cawood had kept out of trouble for a considerable time.

He urged the court not to jail him immediately.

Cawood, 42 of Middleton Park Grove, Middleton, Leeds, admitted unlawful wounding and possessing a firearm with intent.

Jailing him for two years Judge Kerry Macgill said while it was clear the two men had not called at Cawood's home just for a quiet chat the fact he had produced a loaded air rifle and used it could not be overlooked.