An Ipswich man has been jailed for more than 20 years for possessing a gun with intent to endanger life after a 16-year-old boy was shot in the neck, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Sean Price, 24, from Rushmere Road, was arrested more than a week after the victim was found with a gunshot wound in Cranes Way, Borehamwood, at 10.50pm on Tuesday, August 4 2020.

Police, including armed response officers, and the East of England Ambulance Service had attended and discovered a 16-year-old boy had been shot.

The boy’s injuries resulted in him being paralysed from the waist down, with restricted mobility from the neck down. He was hospitalised for ten months.

Following investigations by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, Price was arrested on Wednesday, August 12.

He was subsequently charged with attempted murder, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He denied all the charges.

Following a trial at St Albans Crown Court in October 2021, Price was found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and not guilty of attempted murder or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

On Friday, January 21, at Croydon Crown Court, Price was given 21 years for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life as he was sentenced for the offence alongside possession of a firearm, possession of an offensive weapon (a flick knife) and possession of cocaine.

In addition to the 21-year sentence, the court considered that Price was a “dangerous offender” under the provisions of Chapter 5 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, so passed an extended sentence of four years to run consecutively.

This means that Price’s total sentence is 25 years imprisonment.

Detective Inspector Mark Butler, of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, who led the investigation, said: “Unlawful possession of a firearm will always be treated very seriously, given the danger to the public, particularly so when firearms are discharged in a public place.

"In this very serious case, the young victim was seriously injured, having been shot in the neck."

Two other people - one of no fixed address and the other from Elstree - were also sentenced in relation to the incident.