A FOUR-year-old boy needed hospital treatment after his brother - aged five - accidentally shot him in the face with a pellet gun, narrowly missing his eye.

Jordon Whittaker picked up the gun at his home in Clayton Street, Great Harwood, unaware how dangerous it could be.

As he was told off by his dad, Paul Whittaker, the gun accidentally went off and the pellet lodged in the side of brother Joshua's nose - less than an inch away from his eye. The boy's mum, Alison Cassell, 24, said: "They were both so shocked, I don't think they really knew what had happened. "Jordon picked up the gun and Paul shouted at him to put it down.

"Somehow it just went off as he was trying to put it back."

Joshua was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary where X-rays revealed a pellet had lodged in the side of his nose.

His mum added: "It was so close to his eye.

"He has been so lucky."

Now Joshua faces a return visit to hospital on Thursday, when the pellet will be removed after swelling around the wound has gone down.

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