THE mother of a six-year-old boy shot in the head while playing in his own back garden has slammed the use of air weapons.

Assad Mehmood was left shocked and bleeding after he was shot with an air rifle from a house overlooking their back garden.

The Clitheroe schoolboy had a lucky escape after the pellet glanced off his head, leaving a deep cut on the left side of his head, just above the ear.

Doctors told Assad's family that he could have been blinded or even killed if the pellet had hit his eyes or lodged in his skull. The attack came after police this week revealed armed officers would be visiting schools in Hyndburn to educate children on the menace of replica guns. If successful, the scheme will be extended to schools in the Ribble Valley.

Assad's mother, Toheen Akthar, of Tower Hill, Clitheroe, said her children are now terrified of playing in their own back garden.

She said: "I can't believe he was shot just yards away from me in my own back garden - it's the one place you think he'd be safe. I don't know why anyone would want to use an air weapon, never mind shoot a defenceless six-year-old.

"I want to know where they got the gun."

Mrs Akthar described how Assad, was sat on a garden chair awaiting his turn on a game with his sisters, Tiba Mehmood, nine, Layreb Mehmood, 10, and Isfia Mehmood, 12, when he was attacked.

She added: "They came in screaming that he had been hit and was bleeding. I saw lots of blood and just hoped the pellet hadn't got stuck in his head"

Assad was taken by ambulance to Burnley General Hospital where doctors sealed the wound and sent him home. The plucky youngster was back at Pendle Primary School yesterday after the attack at around 2pm on Wednesday.

AN 18-year-old Clitheroe man has been arrested by police and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an air weapon during an assault. He was remanded in custody last night and was expected to appear before Blackburn magistrates this morning.