Trespasser suing for 3 million, four years after being shot

A man who was shot with an unlicensed gun while trespassing on a country estate is now suing for damages, four years after the millionaire owner was acquitted of attempted murder

Tom Frearson, who was 16 at the time, was trespassing on the Witley Park Estate near Godalming, Surrey, when 63-year-old businessman Gary Steele shot him in the back with a double-barrelled shotgun.

Mr Frearson admitted to the press that he had been trespassing on the grounds with other teenagers on the day before the shooting when the group were chased by staff on quad bikes. He claimed that the next day, July 8, 2018, he had been walking outside the estate's perimeter on a public footpath on Lea Coach Road when Mr Steele yelled: "I told you not to come back" and shot him from over the wall.

Mr Steele did not have a licence for the shotgun he used in the attack. The boy was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds to the left upper arm and back. It was reported that Mr Steele's partner, Amanda Karm, later told police that Mr Steele had phoned her, saying "I think I got one of them."

Mr Steele admitted shooting Mr Frearson to police and was later acquitted of attempted murder, wounding with intent, and unlawful wounding. He was sentenced to a 15-month prison term,  suspended for 12 months, for the possession of a shotgun without a licence.

Mr Frearson is now suing Mr Steele for damages of nearly £3 million, claiming he will need around 50 operations to remove shotgun pellets still in his body. Mr Frearson claims that Mr Steele shot him deliberately "intending to kill or seriously injure him" and that there is no defence to his claim.

He also says he has developed post-traumatic stress disorder and is also suffering from nightmares, panic attacks, depression and fatigue.