Thames Valley Police and one of its officers have been fined after a worker was accidentally shot during a firearms training exercise.
Police firearms instructor PC David Micklethwaite was conducting a basic firearms-awareness training session for new civilian police control-room staff, when the incident took place on 30 May 2007 at the police forces’ headquarters in Kiddlington, Oxfordshire.
As part of the course PC Micklethwaite loaded a magnum revolver with ammunition from an unmarked sweets tin, which had been stored in a police armoury. He thought that the ammunition was a dummy round and repeatedly pulled the trigger to demonstrate how the cylinder of the gun rotated. But the rounds were live and the gun fired, hitting one of the course attendees, Keith Tilbury, in the stomach and leaving him in a critical condition.
Mr Tilbury was taken to hospital and spent 10 days in intensive care. He was eventually released from hospital after 22 days, but has still not been able to return to work due to the severity of his injuries.
An HSE investigation discovered that altough the force had a risk assessment in place for the use of firearms, it had failed to adequately separate live ammunition from dummy rounds. It also failed to label tins to make it clear if the contents contained live ammunition. Investigators also highlighted that it was the responsibility of the firearms instructor to ensure that live rounds were not fired from the weapon.
HSE inspector, Matthew Lee, said: “Keith Tilbury suffered life-changing injuries as a result of this incident and I hope the conclusion of this case will help in some small way to contribute to his recovery.
“Risk assessments are necessary and an important way of enabling employers to safeguard their workers’ safety, but, as this case demonstrates, it is not the pieces of paper or certificates that will stop workers getting injured. It is vital that employers follow up on actions highlighted in risk assessments and ensure staff follow them.”
Thames Valley Police appeared at Southwark Crown Court on 24 September and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.
PC Micklethwaite attended the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching s7 of the same act, for failing to take reasonable care of himself or others. He was fined £8000 and ordered to pay £5000 in costs.
In sentencing, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith concluded: “The incident has had a devastating effect on Keith Tilbury’s life. The keeping of mixed ammunition in an unmarked Quality Street tin was a disaster waiting to happen.”
In mitigation, Thames Valley Police said it had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. Both the force and PC Micklethwaite deeply regretted the incident and have apologised to Mr Tilbury and his family. The force now ensures that the control measures are more closely monitored and live ammunition is banned from training sessions.
The force is yet to decide whether PC Micklethwaite will face internal disciplinary proceedings as a result of his conduct on the day of the shooting.
Deputy chief constable Francis Habgood said: “I agree with His Honourable Judge Loraine-Smith, who said that this has been an embarrassing episode for Thames Valley Police, but can reassure everybody that we have changed our procedures and were recently described as a model force on firearms-training issues by an independent review. This point was made by the prosecution at the court hearing.
“We reviewed the use and delivery of classroom-based basic firearms-awareness courses and, as a result of the review, the use of accessible live ammunition of any kind was immediately banned from any classroom input, the force armoury produced a locked plastic display case that permits classes to see but not access the ammunition, only de-activated weapons are used in classrooms, and a new procedure was written for delivering basic awareness and information sessions, which are all now delivered by two instructors.”
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