Shot neighbour was 2mm from death

Jul 5 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

A REVENGE-SEEKING loner who almost killed his neighbour by shooting him in the abdomen has been jailed indefinitely to protect the public.

Convicted bank robber James Davison fired a .22 rifle at Stephen Stores in the unprovoked attack in Voltage Terrace, Philadelphia, Houghton le Spring, near Sunderland, last February.

The bullet caused severe liver damage and missed a vital artery by two millimetres, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Mr Storey had lived next door to Davison for four years and the two had little contact apart from occasional noise complaints.

Tim Gittins, prosecuting, said: “On February 6, Mr Stores had gone into his rear yard to let his dog out and noticed the door to a garage was ajar. He became concerned because it might affect his self-employed business and he had secured the door earlier. As he walked into the space, he was shot in the abdomen.

“He said he felt instant pain and saw a flash of light, but was unable to see who shot him. He was able to get himself inside and phone the ambulance. He was taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery and had a .22 expanding bullet removed from underneath the skin in his back.

“The bullet had passed through his body and came to rest just underneath the skin, having crossed his complete abdomen. It caused serious injury to his liver,” he said.

“A consultant said he was lucky to be alive. The bullet missed the spleen artery by a couple of millimetres, which would have proved fatal.”

Davison, 46, was arrested as he tried to return home. His fleece jacket bore residue from a recently-fired gun, and an axe in his home bore paint matching the garage door. Police also recovered a crossbow and a live cartridge, but not the gun.

Davison, who admitted wounding with intent and possessing ammunition while prohibited, was given an indeterminate jail sentence under laws protecting the public from dangerous offenders. He must serve at least four years and 230 days.

Recorder James Goss warned Davison – who served eight years for six bank raids in 1989 – that after release he would be on licence for life.

Lee Fish, defending, said Davison was a loner who had suffered abnormal grief after both parents died in a year. “Mr Davison irrationally seems to blame Mr Stores in some way for his parents’ death. … the most positive gloss I can put on it is grief can provoke irrational behaviour and provoke the need to try and find someone to blame.”