A PHYSICIST has called for a shake-up in the law covering airguns after a drive-by shooting put him in hospital.

Dr Lionel Goodfellow, who works at the AWE weapons base, had to undergo surgery under general anaesthetic after he was shot in the front garden of his home in Ramptons Meadow, Tadley, on Saturday.

Dr Goodfellow said: "I had been working on my garden that afternoon and my wife and I were just packing up when I heard a bang and felt a sharp pain in my left thigh.

"I looked down and saw a hole in my jeans, and blood everywhere. I saw a white van pulling away."

The police were called and 55-year-old Dr Goodfellow went to Basingstoke hospital for X-rays.

The bullet had lodged in his thigh muscle and an operation under general anaesthetic was carried out to remove it on Sunday, before he was finally allowed home on Monday afternoon.

"They had to widen the hole in my thigh to get the bullet out," said Dr Goodfellow. "It's still painful and it's hard for me to sit comfortably without putting pressure on my injured leg."

A move to criminalise the ownership of airguns has recently been proposed in a Private Member's Bill by Jonathan Shaw, Labour MP for Chatham, and it's a move that Dr Goodfellow supports.

"I would have supported tighter restrictions on this type of gun even before I was shot," he said.

"It is all very well using one for target practice at a gun club, but we simply cannot have people wandering around the streets shooting people."

Anyone who can help the police inquiry should call Sergeant Terry Arrowsmith at Tadley police on 0845 045 45 45 or the Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555 111.