A TEENAGER has spoken about the moment a sniper shot him with an air rifle on Weymouth’s Rodwell Trail.

Joshua Betts was hit in the leg at around 4am on Saturday after someone started firing near Dundee Road.

“It was painful – very painful,” said the 18-year-old, who lives and works at the Old Rooms Inn pub in Cove Row.

“I was going to a mate’s house and the next thing I knew we heard three or four shots. We had no idea where it was coming from.

“We started running away but we must have been running in their direction because it hit me in the front of the leg.

“My mate pushed me down the hill and we got away.”

The pointed pellet had lodged under Joshua’s skin, two inches above the knee.

Police were called but could not find the shooter.

Joshua was taken to Dorset County Hospital where doctors cut the pellet out under a local anaesthetic.

Mum Julia Betts, 36, whose husband runs the pub, said: “I am just shocked. Why would someone be out doing something like that?

“It’s not nice to be in hospital watching something being cut out of your son’s leg.

“I want whoever did this to feel some shame and to think about the pain they’ve caused him.”

Joshua had been drinking and laughed off the incident in the minutes afterwards but reflected: “I know it could have been serious.”

He needed a stitch to close the wound and can’t walk properly at the moment.

Councillors and the Friends of the Rodwell Trail have condemned the attack for undermining a popular walking and cycling route.

Anyone with information is urged to contact PC Jimmy Bond on 01305 222222 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.