Where were police after BB gun was fired at couple's window?

Ball bearing shot through a window of a house in Ringmer Road, Worthing

No officers were sent to Marie and John O’Sullivan’s home in Ringmer Road, Worthing, after the ordeal on Tuesday, May 15.

John said: “I wanted a bit of reassurance that they were taking it seriously.

“I can understand that yes, there is nothing they can do at that point, but a bit of police presence and community spirit would have been nice so we felt they were keeping an eye on things.”

John and Marie O'Sullivan from Ringmer Road's bedroom window was smashed by the BB gun pellet

John and Marie had just got back from a holiday in Chessington with their two daughters when the incident happened. Marie was with her daughters in the living room when they heard a loud smashing noise upstairs at around 12.40pm. The window of their bedroom was completely cracked, with a bullet-shaped hole in it.

She said: “I felt completely horrified and shocked – you don’t expect that in the middle of the day.”

John, who was in the garden, called 101 and was on the phone for half an hour. He found a ball bearing the size of a large pea in the grass.

Sussex Police said the incident was ‘recorded and notified to local officers for awareness’ and ‘as there were no viable lines of enquiry, police attendance or further action was not possible’.

The couple believe it was a random shooting by a young person cycling past, but they fear it may happen again.

Their youngest daughter, nine, was ‘really shaken up’ by the incident and asked to move house.

Marie said: “I dread to think what could have happened if that bullet had hit further down in our garden and hit one of our daughters playing there. The speed and power of that bullet would be lethal.”

“How these guns can be legal is beyond me.”

John told everyone to report their crimes to police. He said: “Rather than getting it fixed and getting on with your life, they need to report it if people are randomly ball-bearing houses.”

Sussex Police said: “Every incident is treated on its merits and we will always respond and make enquiries where there is current danger or where there are lines of enquiry that can be followed up.”