A WALK in the woods left a Thurnscoe girl fighting for her life after she was shot by an air rifle.

Stacey Cooper, 13, was on a Sunday ramble with her parents, brother and dogs when she fell to the ground shouting that she had been shot.

“We were running around with the dogs then she gripped her chest and said she’d been shot,” said her mother, Louise Mellor of Briton Street.

“I didn’t believe her and thought she was just fooling around, but when we ran over to her there was blood everywhere.

“It hit her just below the neck, above her breast bone, and we’ve been told that if it had hit her a quarter of an inch lower down we wouldn’t have even got her into the car because she would have bled to death.”

The incident occurred in Howell Wood, a vast area between Great Houghton/Clayton and South Kirkby which is popular with walkers, at about 5.30pm. Police have told her it was a pellet from an air rifle which hit her.

Stacey was taken to Mexborough Montagu Hospital and transferred to Barnsley hospital where she was not operated on until after 12.30am Tuesday.

“We had to wait four hours at Mexborough and understood that a bed was waiting for her at Barnsley, but there was no bed available when we arrived and had to wait in A&E for hours.

“Then they couldn’t decide who was going to operate as it was close to veins and arteries and would be dangerous.

“She eventually had the operation after I threatened to take her home and now she’s on antibiotics as an infection set in because the pellet had been left in for so long. I thought they’d just be able to pull it out, but the ultra sound scan forced it further down, making it more difficult to operate.”

Ms Thomas said she and her partner, Craig Cooper, Stacey and her ten-year-old son often walked in the wood.

“We have two dogs and we can let them run as the woods are very big and you don’t see many people. We didn’t hear the shot or see anyone, but we definitely won’t be going there again.”