Police tape
Police tape at a crime scene. Getty

KEY POINTS

  • Duncan Campbell had been drinking heavily and was annoyed after being refused a last order.
  • He has been given a 16-month suspended prison sentence.

A 20-year-old man has had part of his lung removed having been shot by police after attempting to deliberately provoke two officers into killing him. The incident took place in Derbyshire in late August.

The Derby Telegraph reports that Duncan Campbell, 20, had been drinking heavily and was annoyed after being refused a last order. He went home to his mother's house, later leaving with an air pistol before making two 999 calls to coax police out.

Campbell told them he had seen an armed man along Stainsby Avenue, a residential street in the area.

He then confronted an officer with what appeared to them to be a conventional gun, prompting that officer's colleague to open fire. Campbell survived the shooting, but surgeons had to remove part of his lung due to heavy bleeding.

He underwent a second operation to remove the bullet from his back.

Campbell was told by judge John Burgess at Nottingham Crown Court: "Please think about how frightening it must have been for those police officers.

"One officer is convinced you are about to shoot his colleague. He shoots you. You could have died. Just think of the effect on everybody here who support you, think of the effect on the officer who shot you.

"You are worth a great deal more than that. Don't you forget it."

Prosecutor David Allan told the court: "Mr Campbell was provoking officers to shoot him. The Americanism is 'attempted death by cop. Mr Campbell is described as having a particular interest in the police, having purchased items similar to police trousers, a police vest, even a stab vest.

"The air pistol, particularly at night, was indistinguishable from a real firearm. [The officers] stopped their car, immediately saw Mr Campbell and told him to drop the gun. He was raising it and appeared to have levelled it at an officer. As a result, the other officer shot Campbell once in the chest."

Campbell admitted to the charges against him and was given a 16-month suspended prison sentence. He must now spend 30 days with probation officers to tackle his problems, and obey a four-month curfew.