PAPER delivery boy Frank Bleakley had an unlucky thirteenth birthday on Saturday.

The Westleigh High School boy (pictured) was shot in the thigh while walking with two friends near his home in Larch Road, Leigh.

He was taken to Royal Bolton Royal Infirmary for surgery and allowed home on Monday.

Now his mum, Margaret, is calling for a youth gun ban.

Frank, the youngest of five, has been working as a paper delivery boy for Westleigh Post Office for four weeks, and had finished his Saturday morning round before the shooting incident.

Margaret said: "Frank and two friends were cutting through a ginnel to the shops when they saw some lads with a rifle. One of Frank's mates started to run. They heard one shot then a second hit Frank in the leg.

"It was a bit of a shock. He felt a sting and there is a hole where the pellet entered. Despite an operation the pellet has been left in, we think because it is so close to the bone.

"Frank is feeling a bit down, especially as this happened on his birthday. He had opened some of his cards and presents, but we had to take others to him in hospital. "Lads should be stopped carrying these guns. They are dangerous. My husband, Arthur, was coming home on Monday and was amazed to see a girl pass him heading for the fields with an air rifle."

One of Frank's Briar Grove customers said: "It's such a shame, you couldn't meet a nicer boy."

Police later arrested and bailed a juvenile following the incident.

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