A BABY boy, aged ten months, was shot in the head by a sniper as he played with his pet rabbit in the back garden of his parents' home.

Ryan Greener's father was keeping a watchful eye on him as he stroked the family pet.

Suddenly, Ryan fell to the ground screaming in pain after he was hit on the temple by an airgun pellet,

The gun had been pointed through the slats in the garden fence and the thug took careful aim before pulling the trigger.

An armed police unit was called, but the thug was not found and is now being hunted.

Ryan's father Peter said: "I don't know what kind of lunatic would go out to shoot a little boy. Ryan was very lucky - an inch further over and he would have been hit in the eye."

Mr Greener has now banned Ryan and his sister Chloe, two, from going outside their home in South Shields, South Tyneside.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "An armed response team was sent to the scene after the matter was reported. We believe a group of 12 and 13-year-olds playing nearby could hold information."