Kesgrave schoolboy shooting: Teenager jailed for attempted murder

A teenager who shot a boy in the face leaving him partially paralysed has been sentenced to 24 years in custody for attempted murder.

Jacob Talbot-Lummis, 16, wounded his victim, who was aged 15 at the time, as he was leaving home for school in Kesgrave, Suffolk, on 7 September 2020.

The trial heard the pair had been friends since primary school.

Judge Martyn Levett said Talbot-Lummis "ambushed" his victim and "didn't show any mercy or restraint".

A double-barrelled shotgun was used in the shooting, which happened on the first day back at school after the summer holidays.

During the six-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court earlier this year, it was heard the victim was blasted by the over-and-under Beretta from a distance of less than 1.5m (5ft).

The defendant had denied attempted murder and four other charges, but admitted to possession of a shotgun with intent to cause fear of injury.

The court was told that Talbot-Lummis took his father's car to drive to the location and lay in wait for the boy for more than an hour before he shot him with his grandfather's gun.

It was heard he wanted to "scare" the boy, who had caused him "humiliation and fear", but he said he fired the gun unintentionally.

The court heard Talbot-Lummis was obsessed with guns and violent computer games.

Judge Levett said Talbot-Lummis had played a virtual reality computer game called Blood Trail the day before the shooting.

A friend of the defendant said the game was "hyper-realistic in its violence", and that Talbot-Lummis "adores it".

The judge told the defendant: "You had this obsessive interest in all kinds of firearms and had become entrenched in watching computer games online."

Talbot-Lummis had been "playing games in a virtual world more suitable for 18-year-olds", the judge added.

He said that playing such games "was a factor for the onset of violent fantasies you had".

The judge said Talbot-Lummis had "ruthlessly executed" his plan to attack his victim, who suffered "unimaginably serious injuries", still had flashbacks and continued to be "reliant on his family".

"The intention to kill wasn't formed on the spur of the moment," the judge said.

"This was all pre-planned and pre-meditated."

Talbot-Lummis was told he would spend a further five years on licence upon his release from custody.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk