A 78-year-old man, Albert Grannon, has admitted killing his six-year-old great-grandson who died after he was shot in the stomach with a pellet gun.
Pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to the manslaughter of Stanley Metcalf, who died in the shooting in Sproatley, East Yorkshire.
Stanley was shot while visiting his elderly relatives on July 26 last year before being rushed to hospital where he died later the same day.
Stanley suffered a hole in the side of his abdomen when he was shot. Grannon also admitted possessing an air rifle without holding a firearms certificate.
The defendant sat in the dock wearing a jacket, shirt and tie and listened to the proceedings through a headset. The case will be adjourned for sentencing.
Relatives were seated in the public gallery and on chairs within the courtroom normally reserved for jury members. Grannon was granted conditional bail.
Police described the incident at the time last year as a ‘tragic accident involving a pellet airgun’, before Grannon was charged following a lengthy investigation.
The boy was visiting Grannon and his wife Jennifer, 76, when tragedy struck at 4pm. He was taken by ambulance to Hull Royal Infirmary and died about 90 minutes later.
An inquest into his death heard that a post mortem examination gave the cause of death as an ‘airgun projectile to the abdomen’.
An elderly relative previously described Stanley as a ‘brainy, kind little boy’ and a massive football fan who had a twin sister who ‘loved him to bits’.
She added: ‘I don’t know how you’re supposed to explain things like that to a six-year-old girl. I’ve just been in floods of tears ever since it happened.’
Stanley’s great-grandmother Jennifer Grannon described the youngster as a “brainy, kind little boy”.
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