'Exactly the result we wanted': Blinded Staffordshire police sergeant speaks after man who shot him sent to mental health unit

Staffordshire police sergeant Jon King has spoken of how he is happy that the man who shot and blinded him in an eye has been sent to a mental health unit.

"I never thought he would go to prison because of his mental state," he said, adding: "The fact he will be kept in a secure unit away from the general public, myself and my team of officers are happy."

Matthew Tearle, 35, appeared at Stafford Crown Court, where a jury found he was responsible for the paintball gun shooting, and also that he possessed a prohibited firearm.

Father-of-four Mr King, aged 49, who had 26 years service with the police force, was shot twice in the face at close range leaving him blind in one eye.

It happened when he and his colleagues were called to help paramedics at a house in Wat Tyler Close, Rugeley, on October 19, 2014. Tearle, who suffers from schizophrenia and Asperger's syndrome, has been given a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

The jury did not have to find him guilty of a crime, but judged he had carried out the acts alleged, as he had been declared unfit for trial. Tearle, of no fixed address, has been at St George's Hospital in Stafford while the case was pending.

Judge Mark Eades announced that High Sheriff of Staffordshire awards will be awarded to Mr King as well as Inspector Kevin Mulligan, PC Steven Davenport and Special Constable Sydney Cooper in recognition of their efforts to help Mr Tearle.

Mr Tearle's mother and brother will also be awarded the same honour.

Mr King, who lives in Cannock, has since chronicled his recovery in a series of YouTube videos, the most recent of which was published in June. He has retired from the force on medical grounds.

ACC Nick Adderley, from Staffordshire Police, said: "As a result of the serious injury, Jon was forced to retire. He was an excellent officer and is already much missed by all his colleagues. It is a prudent reminder policing carries an element of risk."

Mr King was the second police officer in his family to be shot. His brother Geoff King was shot twice in Wolverhampton in 2006 on a path off the Penn Road. He lost six-and-a-half pints of blood and doctors said he was within two minutes of dying.