HPT News 41 Jack Smith

A MAN who was ejected from a St Neots nightclub later returned and tried to kill a doorman.

A MAN who was ejected from a St Neots nightclub later returned and tried to kill a doorman.

Jack Smith, 28, of Cambridge Street, St Neots, was removed from Unique Night Club and Bar in South Street, at just after midnight on December 18 last year after getting involved in an argument.

He returned a short while later in his BMW, pointed a shotgun out of the window and fired a shot towards two doormen.

Two pellets hit one of the doormen, 52-year-old Christopher Tann, one lodging in his skull behind his hairline and the other around his left ear. He was treated at hospital and made a full recovery.

On Wednesday (October 6) Smith was found guilty of attempted murder at Cambridge Crown Court.

He had denied the offence but was convicted following a trial that started on September 27 and will be sentenced at the same court on October 29.

The court earlier heard that Smith had fled the scene following the shooting. However, his BMW triggered an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) machine operated by Thames Valley Police near Banbury on December 21.

The ANPR indicated he was driving without insurance but officers also realised he was wanted for the Cambridgeshire offence.

DC Derek Cornhill, from Huntingdon serious crime team, said: “Smith denied the charge and claimed he merely wanted to frighten the door staff but this was not accepted by the court. This was a serious offence which could easily have killed the victim and it is only luck that most of the pellets from the shotgun hit the nightclub’s doors.”