Wolverhampton teacher sacked for shooting pupil with pellet gun

Richard West, a popular science teacher at St Peter's Collegiate School, was conducting an experiment involving a pellet gun when the freak accident occurred.

Now youngsters at the school have launched a campaign to get him re-instated – led by the 17-year-old who was on the receiving end of the shooting.

A Facebook campaign has gained almost 1,000 members, while an e-petition has also been launched.

• 'Bring Back Westy' Facebook page

• 'Bring Back Westy' petition

The victim claimed he would have suffered more damage from a safety pin. His fellow pupils have described the teacher's sacking as a 'complete disgrace'. Mr West said he is too distraught to comment.

The teenager revealed he had since been abused by fellow pupils unhappy at Mr West's suspension, but that he had not made a complaint to the school regarding the incident.

"Mr West set up an experiment where he was going to shoot through paper into cardboard boxes at the end of the room to work out the speed of the bullet and its deceleration," the pupil said.

"I'm not sure how it happened – it must have rebounded off the table and it hit me on the leg.

"Everyone was really shocked but I was okay, you'd do more damage with a safety pin. It was a complete accident and Mr West was really worried and concerned."

The teenager, who said he barely had a scratchafter the incident, has written to school governors.

He added: "It's such severe consequences for him. Mr West is one of our best teachers and I chose to do physics because of him."

The incident happened in November and it is believed Mr West was suspended soon afterwards, before being permanently sacked this week.

Dozens of pupils past and present left comments on the Facebook page, called Bring Back Westy 2014, calling him a 'true inspiration', the 'best teacher ever' and 'the king of St Peter's'.

Current pupil Isabella Leadbeater, 17,

said: "We're infuriated about this and Mr West has been humiliated."

Former colleague Tim Cooper – an ex-English teacher at St Peter's – called the decision a disgrace

"Richard is always 'thinking outside the box' and literally thousands of students have benefited from his imaginative approach. The board's position is baffling."

Mr West, who lives in Bridgnorth, said the the decision had left him too distraught to comment. Adrian Richards, headteacher at St Peter's Collegiate School,

said: "An incident took place at the school in November last year which resulted in a full investigation with the co-operation of the local authority.

"A disciplinary hearing took place earlier this week at which the panel reached its verdict and a teacher was dismissed.

"As we are still in the appeal phase of the process, it would be inappropriate to comment any further."