A PART-TIME soldier shot his girlfriend's ex-husband with an air rifle after a gun was pointed at him during a love triangle street battle.

The shoot-out took place when Ian Turnbull took on Paul Snaith over stealing his partner.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the trouble started when Mr Turnbull went to his ex-wife's home, in Wear Street, Chester-le-Street, which she was sharing with his best friend, Paul Snaith, on September 19, last year.

A row broke out on the front step as Mr Turnbull tried to challenge 22-year-old Snaith to a fist fight.

But when Snaith refused to leave the house, angry Turnbull went to the boot of his Rover car and pulled out an air rifle with a telescopic sight.

He pointed it at Snaith through the window but TA soldier Snaith retaliated by grabbing his own gun and firing a pellet from his barricaded room, hitting Turnbull in the neck with a pellet.

Turnbull immediately dropped his gun and fell to the ground, bleeding.

He was taken away by ambulance after his attacker tried to patch up his wound with a tea towel.

Turnbull told police it was like being hit with a baseball bat as he was shot in the neck with the powerful air rifle.

Snaith was arrested and admitted carrying out the shooting because he believed Turnbull was going to shoot him.

Snaith, of Wear Street, Chester-le-Street, was jailed for six months yesterday, after pleading guilty to wounding and two charges of illegal possession of firearms.