A MOTHER has called for an end to Britain's gun culture after her eight-year-old son was shot in the face with an air rifle.

Dylan Cook was lucky to escape with his sight after an older boy shot him just below the right eye with an airgun pellet.

Police say the shot was fired as Dylan was playing in a park near his family home in Hamilton Road, Newtown, Stockton, on Wednesday night.

His mother, Tracy Oliver, 25, is now demanding a total ban on the sale and use of all airguns.

The incident comes four months after the Government announced new laws to arrest anyone carrying a toy gun or gun-shaped lighter if they didn't have a reasonable excuse.

The move, put forward in anti-social behaviour legislation, will also raise the age limit for having and using an air weapon without adult supervision from 14 to 17.

Ms Oliver said: "The new measures do not go far enough. I want a total ban on anyone carrying these weapons, and better education to stamp out this gun culture. I don't like to use the word culture because that is wrong.

"Dylan is lucky he didn't lose an eye and he could even have been killed.

"He walked in and said he'd been shot in the eye. At first I didn't believe him, then I looked closer - I couldn't believe it.

"He was in total shock. He just had one tear trickling down. I thought he was okay playing with these older boys because they were playing football.

"I understand it was an accident - they didn't realise there was anything in the gun - but that doesn't stop this being extremely serious."

Dylan, who attends Oaktree Primary School, was taken to Middlesbrough General Hospital following the incident.

After initial x-rays and checks showed he had suffered no permanent damage to the eye, he was released. He still has swelling under the eye.

The North-East has seen a spate of airgun incidents in recent years. Matthew Sheffield, 14, was shot dead after a prank with an air weapon went wrong in the family's garden in Eaglesciffe, Teesside, last year.

Nicloa Distin, 15, of Gateshead, was left blind in one eye after she was shot in 2001.

Police last night urged anyone who witnessed this latest incident to contact them on (01642) 326326 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.