A shocked children's worker fears youngsters are at risk after she was shot with an airgun just yards from a primary school

Playworker Charlotte Cornell, needed stitches after being hit in the arm by the mystery sniper.

Charlotte, 23, was about to pick up children from St John's Green Primary School, Colchester, for an after-school club.

Injured - Charlotte Cornell shows the result of her being hit by an air gun pellet in her arm Picture: STEVE BRADING

"I was walking down the alley when I felt something hit my arm," said the stunned victim.

"I didn't know what it was at the time it felt like I'd been stung by a wasp."

The pellet went though Charlotte's shirt and lodged in the top of her left arm.

An X-ray at Colchester General Hospital's casualty unit revealed what had happened.

The pellet was removed under local anaesthetic by doctors who stitched up the wound.

"I was shaken when I found out what it was," said Charlotte, of Churnwood Road, Parsons Heath, Colchester.

The attack happened in broad daylight, minutes before school leaving time. The alleyway is just a few hundred yards from Colchester police station.

"What worries me is the alley is used all the time by schoolchildren," she said.

Police are investigating the incident

Published Tuesday, April 22, 2003

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