Injured boy's family vow to seek damages

10:30pm Thursday 24th January 2008

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By Peter Magill »

THE father of a teenager who was injured by an alarm gun' has vowed to seek damages against the man who had the device fitted.

Jack John Ashley, known as JJ, will never regain the use of his left hand, which was maimed after he picked up a shotgun cartridge, fired from a makeshift security device at a mill in Worsthorne.

The cartridge, which was a live round instead of the blanks which were supposed to have been used, exploded in his hand, severing an artery and causing considerable blood loss.

Three men - mill owner Jack Clarkson and his friends Peter Smith and Derek Kokocinski - were cleared at Burnley Crown Court this week of firearms charges after a three-day trial in relation to the incident.

But JJ's father Phil, also from Worsthorne, has consulted a barrister over launching a private prosecution against Mr Clarkson, of Water Street, who runs Worsthorne Enviro Skips in nearby Gordon Street.

Mr Ashley said: "There are two things which are going to be happening now. First of all there is a Health and Safety Executive investigation.

"They could not proceed while the criminal inquiry was ongoing but I have reported the matter to them to take action.

"I am also going to be taking out a civil action against Mr Clarkson and have consulted a barrister. This will be on a charge on malicious wounding, and not on firearms charges."

The family was disappointed that wounding charges were not pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service initially over the incident.

Mr Ashley says that JJ, now 14 and a pupil at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, is fortunate that, due to the skill of surgeons, they were able to save his left hand.

But while the injury still allows the teenager use of his hand, it will never fully regain its mobility, as a result of the injury he sustained, he added.

Mr Clarkson has insisted that he installed the security device after suffering repeated break-ins and fires at the site.

The single-barrelled contraption was supplied to him by Mr Kokocinski and Mr Smith also had a similar device on his allotment.

The friends produced another similar device, which they said had been purchased recently, to prove how easily obtainable such contraptions are.

Mr Ashley, who says the devices are dangerous and unnecessary has petitioned Burnley MP Kitty Ussher to make such devices illegal.