Man jailed for shooting club doorman

15 December 2010, 16:48 | Updated: 15 December 2010, 16:53

A man who attempted to kill a doormen after being ejected from a nightclub has been jailed for 15 years.

Jack Smith, 28, of Cambridge Street, St Neots, was removed from Unique, in South Street, St Neots, at just after midnight on December 18 last year after getting involved in an argument.

He returned a short while later in his BMW, pointed a shotgun out of the window and fired a shot towards two doormen.

Two pellets hit one of the doormen, a 52-year-old man, one lodging in his skull behind his hairline and the other around his left ear. He was treated at hospital and made a full recovery.

In October, Smith was found guilty of his attempted murder following a trial at Cambridge Crown Court and was today jailed at the same court by Judge Gareth Hawkesworth.

He received 15 year sentences, to run concurrently, on charges of attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to commit an offence.

The court had previously heard that Smith had fled the scene following the shooting. However, his BMW triggered an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) machine operated by Thames Valley Police near Banbury on December 21 last year.

The ANPR indicated he was driving without insurance but officers also realised he was wanted for the Cambridgeshire offence.

DC Derek Cornhill, from Huntingdon serious crime team, said: "This was a serious offence which could easily have killed the victim and it is only luck that most of the pellets from the shotgun hit the nightclub's doors."