A TEENAGER is recovering at home after being shot in the back with an air rifle.

Liam Anderson, 13, of High Barnes, Great Lumley, County Durham,was shot as he walked the family dog near his home on Sunday evening.

The Park View Community School pupil had to undergo an operation on his spine at the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City. Durham Police said the attack appeared motiveless.

Meanwhile, Northumbria Police have warned youngsters in the run-up to the half-term holiday about the risks of playing with air weapons or BB guns.

The vast majority of incidents attended by armed officers in Northumbria involve air weapons or imitation firearms, and they increase during the school holidays.

Police are reminding children, ahead of half-term week, which begins on October 25, that they are posing a danger to themselves, the public and to the officers who respond to calls about incidents.

Chief Inspector Jo Miskimmin, of Northumbria Police's central support unit, said: "It is often young people who have air weapons in a public place, and we find it happens more often during school holidays.

"We feel the time is right to remind youngsters of the risks they're running if they think any firearm is a toy.

"Someone could easily be killed or injured by a pellet from an airgun or ball-bearings, either directly as a result of being hit or indirectly."