Four charged after air rifle spree

FOUR people - three of them teenagers - have been charged in connection with an air rifle shooting spree which left 40 cars damaged and one person nursing a facial injury.

FOUR people - three of them teenagers - have been charged in connection with an air rifle shooting spree which left 40 cars damaged and one person nursing a facial injury.

Dozens of vehicle windscreens were smashed in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Stowmarket and Woodbridge on October 14, while a 21-year-old man was struck in the face by a pellet in Ipswich's Clapgate Lane.

The window of a house in Orford was also smashed in the rampage.

Detectives today revealed that 53 separate charges had been brought against the four.

Ryan Jefferies, 21, Luke Berry, 19, and Megan Lawrence, 18, all of Edwin Avenue in Woodbridge, are each facing 13 charges of criminal damage, one charge of assault by beating and one charge of possession of an imitation firearm in a public place.

The fourth suspect, a 16-year-old boy from the Woodbridge area who can not be named because of his age, has been charged with seven offences of criminal damage and one charge of possession of an imitation firearm in a public place.

Three of the four - Jefferies, Lawrence and the 16-year-old - are due to appear before magistrates in Ipswich on January 11, while Berry is due to appear on January 14.

Police began receiving reports of damage to houses and cars at 9.10pm on October 14 when a window of a house in Church Street, Orford, was smashed by pellets thought to have been fired by an airgun.

Shortly before 10pm, residents reported shots being fired at two cars in Quay Street in the village, shattering the windows.

A short time later the windows of at least ten cars were smashed by an airgun in Orford Road, Cavendish Road, Beach Road West and Tacon Road, Felixstowe.

At around 11pm, five vehicles in Theberton Road, Ipswich, had their windows damaged and 40 minutes later a 21-year-old was struck in the face by a pellet, thought to have been shot from an airgun, while he was outside the Co-op store in Clapgate Lane.

Following the incident, residents were left with a huge clean-up operation and an insurance headache.

A police spokesman confirmed: “Four people have been charged with numerous offences of criminal damage after incidents across Suffolk in October 2007.

“Dozens of vehicles were damaged at locations across the Woodbridge, Felixstowe, Stowmarket and Ipswich areas on Sunday, October 14 - and a 21-year-old man was struck on the side of the head as he walked in Clapgate Lane in Ipswich.”